Heirs of the Warrior
by TheVoidWalker
Summary: Many millenia ago, a warrior trained by the Gods themselves met his end, but his family lived on. Now, in the age of Shinobi, Uzumaki Naruto will discover a brother and with him, a legacy of power. Latest chapter rated M for language.
1. Prologue: Death of the Warrior

Author's Note:

I am really excited about this, as it is my first fan-fiction. That said, criticize me, pick into my poem and find every crack, plot hole, grammar mistake, anything you can find. It is my hope to become an established author, and while I have written multitudes of short stories, I have never attempted a fan-fiction. I would like to take this moment to make a statement regarding certain liberties I have taken with the story that acts as the source of inspiration for this one. I am sure that most, if not all of you are familiar with the legend of Achilles. I love _The Iliad_ with a passion, along with most Greek mythology. I have slightly altered this legend. Be aware that while the basic events remain the same, certain, un-necessary elements have been omitted. First off, Achilles never did anything to piss off Apollo before the events of the prologue. Second, my portrayal of the Greek gods may be slightly different from their mythological portrayal. Third, I'm throwing in one completely new part to the legend, and that is the weapons of Achilles (you'll see). Why I decided to combine Greek mythology with Naruto is somewhat beyond me, I just happen to love the idea of a demi-god version of Naruto. So I figured, hey, let's make Naruto a descendant of Achilles. From there other ideas popped in. Creation of a new group of Myrmidons, resurrection of the Yondaime (who will be considered Naruto's father in this story) as well as the greatest warrior to ever grace the Earth, Achilles himself. There will be some romance in this, pairings undecided. I WILL NOT DO YAOI. If you are not familiar with any references made to Greek mythology, let me know and I will try to help you understand, however the best source to go to is the myths themselves. Hope you enjoy my tale, Heirs of the Warrior.

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I do own anything that I came up with originally, namely characters, techniques, and fighting styles that I made up. Don't steal them.

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Prologue:

The Death of the Warrior

The cries of a city being burned to the ground could be heard all around him. He ran through, frantically searching for her. Any soldier, Greek or Trojan that stood before him met with a swift end at the edge of his blades. Achilles was racing towards the upper levels of Troy, where nobility and religious members of the community resided if they were not in the palace or in the temple of Apollo. A group of soldiers stopped him, or tried to, with a hail of arrows and spears. What these men had yet to realize was that they were facing the greatest warrior of all time, a man, no a human god trained and empowered by the court of Mt. Olympus, by the Gods themselves.

"Fools! This city has fallen! And now you shall meet the boatman as well!" Achilles cried. The arrows simply burst away from him, and he charged forward, two magnificent blades drawn. He leaped forward and slashed at the point man's neck, a wound which promptly became a fountain of blood. He landed in the center of the formation, knocking over the three bowmen. He placed his hands on the ground, lifted his body up and thrust his legs out so that his feet would meet the skulls of the men to his left and right. He jumped up a good 4 meters and muttered a few, almost silent words. Winds that before had not existed engulfed the remaining soldiers, cutting deep into them, sending flecks of skin, blood, muscle, and armor flying in a deep red haze. Achilles armor, forged by Hephaestus (God of the Forge, craftsman of the gods) himself, along with his invincibility, a gift of the river Styx, protected him from the vicious technique. He rushed onward, leaving the corpses of men who were doomed anyway. He took no time to consider that these men would be waiting for him at the ferry dock, for with no coins to pay the boatman; they would never pass into the realm of Hades.

Achilles kept running deep into Troy until he reached the palace. He found the temple ransacked and burning, and prayed to the gods that Apollo kept his priestess safe.

Meanwhile, Paris, prince of Troy, was doing the same thing. Bresaius was his cousin, and he had to find her. He had to help her escape. While he could match no soldier with a sword, his skill with a bow was admirable, although still not quite battle-ready. As such, he had to avoid any confrontation, but his knowledge of his city served him well as he raced through side passages and alley ways.

It was Achilles who encountered her first. He had reached the courtyard of the palace, killing what seemed to be the entire Trojan royal guard before he found her. Blood and gore covered him, but that did not stop his lover from embracing him.

"Achilles what has happened?"

"I will explain later, for now you must flee! Find your cousin Paris and have him show you the way out of the city. I will stay with you until you reach him, but no further."

"I am frightened Achilles and I…I weep for Troy, for Hector, and for you. You know well that you will meet your death here. I beg of you, flee with me!" Bresaius said, sobbing uncontrollably. It is a burden that one should have to mourn the death of a lover, but to damn them to it is another burden entirely, one which few can bare stoically, and those that can are the worst kinds of monsters.

"You do not know that. Yet if I do, we will meet in the Underworld. The boatman will know our names Bresaius."

"How can you do this? It is not enough that I have lost one cousin, must I also love my lover?"

"Not even I can hope to win a battle with the sisters of Fate. If today is the day that my string shall be cut, then let the sister's draw their shears, for not even Zeus can prevent them from doing what must be done." Achilles was crying to know. He knew his fate, the only thing one can never change, as his mother revealed to him, was his death. His mentor Ares had warned him of his death, but Achilles believed that death was only in being forgotten. Now however, here was someone who would never forget him, someone who even in death would remember him. "Bresaius, I am sorry. Sorry that I must leave you, and sorry that I took Hector from you. But please, you must fly. I can promise only this, that though the sisters may wish to cut my string, I will fight the onset of death with every breath I have."

"ACHILLES PLEASE! WOULD YOU LEAVE YOUR CHILD A BASTARD!"

"Child?" Achilles felt fear grip him.

'No…please don't let this be true…'

"Ay Achilles," Bresaius said looking into his blue eyes, running her hand through his blood soaked blond hair, "you have given me a child in this womb of mine."

"I…I…" Achilles did not know what to do. He could not leave his lover and his unborn child alone in this world. However, he knew his fate was one he'd already chosen. "I need you to run Bresaius, you must leave. I will find you my love." With tears in his eyes, he lifted her up and knocked her out.

Paris had only just shown up to see a blood soaked man in the same armor as the one who killed his brother lift his cousin off the ground and knock her unconscious. Naturally, he was infuriated. He drew his bow and knocked an arrow, and aimed straight for Achilles heart, though it was already broken. He fired, but his arrow sunk. It buried itself in the place that would become so infamous; it would become a time-honored saying. A good third of the arrow was buried in the heel of the once invincible Achilles, but now he was undone. The magical invincibility came undone due to the severity of the wound, as the arrow shred veins, arteries and muscles.

Achilles fell over, and attempted to softly lay his lover on the ground. He knew this was the moment his mother and his mentor had told him of. The creation of his immortality no longer concerned him. It was the life of one priestess he was concerned for. With his last breaths, he saw the life of his lover and his unborn child assured by Paris, who had ran to his cousin and picked her up, intending to carry her to the passage his brother's wife had shown him.

"On your honor, prince of Troy, keep her safe, and please…tell her I loved her." Achilles called to the prince. He knew Paris hated him for what he did to Hector, and he could hardly blame him, but he hoped that the young man would acknowledge the request.

"What? Bresaius was your…? Oh gods…what have I done..."

"Please…waste no breath on apologies."

"You are the one who killed Hector. Give me your name. I may despise you for the death of my brother, but in a way that and the events around us are my fault. I acted for love and I will not deny another a wish based out of the same."

"Achilles….I have no surname to which I subscribe, but perhaps my descendants will make a worthy one. Please, bring my child to my soldiers in Greece one day. Let him visit my home and learn my techniques, my secrets, and let him know who his father was. Give him this armor, and my weapons. Care for him and your cousin prince of Troy."

"Aye you have my word. I shall do as you ask, and here," Paris laid two coins in Achilles' palm, "for the boatman. A greater warrior this world has never known."

"You have my thanks…"

And with that, Achilles died the tragic hero of the Trojan War.


	2. Chapter 1: Brother

Author's Note:

Hope you all enjoyed the prologue. I actually get some reviews for it, which surprised me to say the least. To the three who sent reviews, thanks. Specifically I would like to thank SS-Zergling for pointing out to me something I had not considered and allowing me to find a good solution. To those that read but did not review, I hope you'll consider taking 5 minutes out of your reading to let me know what you think. I've decided to emulate some of my favorite authors and let the readers deal with my inability to make a decision on a certain issue.

Who gets paired with Naruto?

A) **Sakura**

B) **Tenten**

C) **Temari**

D) **OC (probably the daughter of one the gods/goddesses)**

E) **Hinata**

F) **Anyone else you care for**

Please review, it really does make me a happy person when you do. Also, note that this story begins before the first C class mission, which IS NOT GOING TO BE TO THE WAVE. In my fic, Naruto has talked to the Kyuubi once or twice already after Mizuki went and blew the secret.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters.

And so here we begin, enjoy Chapter 1!

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Chapter 1:

**Brother**

Uzumaki Naruto was awoken from what he considered his most unusual dream to date. The city that was burning and the warrior he was following all seemed so real. Every fight and every noise was so real that if Naruto hadn't known better, he would have believed he was in a full blown battle. Naruto saw the blonde haired warrior fall as the arrow struck his heel. He wondered why that would be fatal to the warrior, but seeing as this was a dream, he accepted it. He watched and listened as he said his last words to his killer. Naruto had an odd feeling when he woke, as though he had stumbled onto some great mystery. He shrugged it aside for the time being. As he fell asleep however, he felt the tug of his tenant.

"What does it want now…" Naruto said before drifting into the recesses of his mind. Naruto walked down the damp corridor to the great cage of the almighty furball.

"Hello again gaki. Any guesses as to why I have called you here?"

"To try to get me to destroy Konoha like you always do. You should know by now that I don't have any interest in doing so.

"Well I was planning on doing that later, but for now I have more important things to worry about. The man you saw in your dream…you should learn more about him. He did exist and what you saw were his last moments. Tomorrow, go searching for a book called _The Iliad_. It holds the answers you seek." And with that, the great demon curled into a ball and prepared to go to sleep.

"Wait…why are you helping me? You're pure evil…why would you want to help me?"

"I have my reasons gaki now leave." Kyuubi said. With that rebuke, Naruto was left to dream ordinary, happy dreams of Sakura feeding him miso ramen.

Next morning

Team 7 was waiting at the usual place on the bridge. Sasuke was doing his emo-brood routine, and Sakura was desperately trying to get a date out of him. The third, usually energetic and happy member of their team was not acting in his usual manner however. Instead of bouncing around enjoying the beginning of another day, he was reading. Sasuke raised an eye brow at this, but let it pass. He honestly didn't care what the dobe did. So long as it didn't hinder him, he could care less. Sakura on the other hand was intrigued. She was more of a scholar then the Uchiha and could tell the book was old…extremely old.

"What are you reading Naruto?" She asked, for once genuinely intrigued at something related to Naruto.

. "It's called _The Iliad_. Its about a great warrior…his name was Achilles." Naruto responded, never taking his eyes from the page. He had arrived at the point where Achilles was about to die. What had the blonde irked was that the events of the epic were almost identical to those in his dream. For another 3 hours the team sat like that, waiting for their sensei who would only show up on time for an Icha Icha book signing, and even then, he'd barley get there in time.

"Sorry team I…"

"LIAR!" Sakura screamed out.

"I didn't even get to make an excuse…" Kakashi said. That's when he noticed something was wrong with the picture before him. He ran through his checklist. 'Sasuke brooding, check, Sakura trying to get said person to go out with her, check, Naruto reading, check. Wait what? Naruto's reading?' Kakashi was confused. "Naruto, what are you reading?"

"If you think it's one of your perverted books your wrong. It's a legend." Naruto said quickly, wanting to reach the end of the book. Kakashi simply noted the abnormality and continued on.

"Well whatever, glad to see you branching out into literature. Anyways we have a new mission. You guys have done well so I got us a C rank. We are going to be investigating a small group of bandits that are apparently capable of using some basic jutsu. We are going to try to avoid combat. Be at the Konoha gate in 2 hours. Dismissed." Kakashi poofed away leaving a small cloud of smoke behind. Naruto finally fell back into his usual self at his statement.

"YATTA! A C RANK! NOW I'M EVEN CLOSER TO HOKAGE!" Naruto yelled.

"Grah! Quiet Naruto baka!" Sakura swatted him over the head, and headed home to pack. Sasuke and Naruto promptly did the same.

6 hours later, the team set up camp. Sakura had been wondering something all day. 'Why on Earth was Naruto reading that book?' She had checked into it before she left, and was astonished at his choice. She decided to simply ask him about. She approached him while he was still doing the tree-climbing exercise Kakashi had assigned to them earlier. She had already nailed it, but Sasuke and Naruto were having slightly more trouble. Sasuke was about ¾ of the way up the tree and Naruto had his top mark just under that. However, the two appeared to be taking a break, although Sasuke looked a hell of a lot worse then Naruto did. She had always wondered were the blonde got his stamina from. In addition to that, Naruto didn't have a mark on him. Sasuke had cuts, bruises, and scratches of every kind. It was weird, but Sakura already had on question to ponder.

"Naruto…why were you reading that book?"

"Oh hi Sakura-chan. If I tell you, do you think you could give me some pointers on this damn exercise? I just can't get it down."

"Sure, sure just tell me why you were reading it."

"Well I had the weirdest dream last night, and it was centered around the end of the book. I actually watched it. He was…unstoppable for the most part. I saw him rip at least 7 men to shreds without a single seal. The dream felt so real, and I wondered who the guy was. Then I got a good tip from…" Naruto stopped, not knowing how to explain the next part.

"Yeah who?" Sakura asked.

"An acquaintance of mine. He doesn't matter. Anyway, he told me to look into the book so I dug around and found a copy. What's eerie about the whole thing is that the book end's just like the dream did. He rushes to this girl, gets shot in the heel which for some reason is fatal. I guess that's where the saying 'Achilles heel' came from neh?"

"That really is odd. I've never heard of anything like that. Anyway, as for the exercise, the trick is to focus on how much chakra is in your foot before hand. I just focused the necessary amount in, and kept the flow of chakra steady. "

"Thanks." Naruto got up and tried it, and managed to nearly reach the top of the tree. Sasuke instantly got up and kept going, duplicating Naruto's efforts using the information he over heard. This would training would continue on for three days, until they reached the bandit camp.

**4 days later**

"This is Cyclops to Pinkie. Report."

"I'm in position. Pinkie to Avenger, what's your status?"

"In position. Whiskers?" Sasuke said Naruto's codename with a slight smirk. He thought it was hilarious.

"I hate that damn name. Yeah I'm in position." Team 7 and their cycloptic sensei were all well hidden, quietly observing the bandit camp. They would do this for 5 hours, then leave for Konoha to report back. It was exciting at first, but eventually it got boring as hell. The bandits didn't do much. They played cards, told jokes, and ghost stories. However, after 4 and a half hours, things finally started getting interesting. One of the bandits began talking about their leader. Apparently, he was a missing-nin, although the bandit did not identify his village of origin. The leader was supposed to be very strong. However, upon hearing the name, Kakashi decided it would be a damn good idea to get the hell out of there. The nin's name was Yakashuzi Kirato. His village of origin was the Rock, and although he held no allegiance to them, no nin from the Rock liked Leaf nin. Alone, Kakashi **might** have been able to handle him but his genin were a liability. He would have to protect them, which would leave him vulnerable to attack, a risk he wouldn't take.

"Guys, let's head home. We do not want to get caught by this guy. He's good. Well above you, and with you here it would be unwise for me to engage him. We will report his presence and let ANBU forces take him out." Kakashi whispered into his microphone.

"Too late copy cat." Kakashi felt a kunai against his neck. "I'm afraid you were a little lax." Kirato slit Kakashi's throat only to have it turn into a smoke puff. "A Bunshin. Damn."

Meanwhile, Kakashi and his team were sprinting, hoping to get the hell away. Kakashi knew that if the bandits and Kirato found them, they were screwed. Even if Kakashi managed to win against Kirato, the bandits had some skill and would prove a problem if he had no energy left, and his beating Kirato wasn't a sure thing. He was A ranked in the bingo book, and well known for a bloodline that let him control earth to a certain degree. He could produce the results of many Doton jutsu simple by willing it. That meant the Sharingan was of limited use. Kakashi felt a minor tremor beneath his feat.

"JUMP!" Kakashi ordered. His team lept into the air. Then the ground exploded and beneath it was Kirato, surrounded by rock stalagmites.

"Heh leaf nin. This will be fun. I love getting vengeance for my father." Kirato smiled. Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke all took damage although it was minor from the explosion but Naruto had somehow managed to jump high enough to clear the range of the blast, although a few rocks hit him. Kirato wasted no time using his bloodline to call forth quicksand, which trapped Kakashi when he landed in it.

'Damn…we are really screwed.' Kakashi thought. He analyzed the situation. He's up against an opponent, who, before becoming a nuke-nin, was on par with Kakashi. Now, after years of learning techniques from other nuke-nin and developing his own skills, he was probably a hell of a lot stronger. Kakashi's trump card had little use since the majority of Kirato's techniques used no hand seals and needed no names. Now he was trapped because by quicksand, while his team was left to face a potentially S-rank threat (Kakashi made a note to update the bingo book if they escaped) and his group of subordinates. In other words, his situation was crap.

"Well well, all that's left are your brats Kakashi. What shall we do hmm? Let's start with the pink haired one." Kirato sent a rock flying at her. While she managed to dodge to the avoid a lethal hit, she was knocked unconscious by the blow.

"BASTARD!" Naruto screamed. He charged forward, only to blown back a smaller version of the earlier earth explosion. Naruto got up and performed his favorite technique, the Kage Bunshin. Kirato was surprised that a genin could perform a jounin level jutsu. He took note of the 10 clones now surrounding him. '10 clones…not bad' Kirato thought. He performed one of his own jutsu, knowing Kakashi's eye was still covered.

"Doton: Rock Typhoon!" He cried. Around him, a whirlwind of rock stalagmites, mud, and stones was kicked up, destroying the clones. When it cleared, Kirato was gone.

"What the hell was that!" Naruto said, shocked that anyone could produce such a techique.

"Never hesitate." Kirato said from behind Naruto.

"How did you get behind me?" Naruto asked. He was scarred. He'd never seen so much power before.

"Gaki, this kind of speed is nothing." He was going to say more and then kill the blonde, but another voice interjected.

"Katon: Housenka no jutsu!" Sasuke cried, spitting out a plume of fireballs toward Kirato in an attempt to save his teammate. Kirato simply laughed at the pathetic attempt and brought up a wall of stone around himself. As Sasuke appeared right above him he realized his mistake of assuming that the genin's attack was just a simple strike. At this point, Kirato switched his focus onto Sasuke, while Naruto moved to get Sakura to safety.

"Katon: Goukyakyuu no jutsu!" Sasuke called out his second technique.

'This one is good…' Kirato thought as he dodged the blast. However, he noticed the fireball wasn't aimed at him. It was aimed at the quicksand pool. 'Is he insane? His sensei wouldn't survive that!' He then noticed that Kakashi had sunk himself beneath the quicksand as the blast hit. The quicksand quickly hardened from the intense heat and while Kakashi suffered some bad burns, he was okay. He burst out of the now dried quicksand and threw a single shuriken at the Rock nuke-nin.

"Kage Shuriken no jutsu!" Kakashi produced a storm of shuriken from a single one. Kirato was again surprised, but he again relied on his bloodline to block them. A wall of stone blocked each of the shadow shuriken, but when Kirato found his left hip impaled by another one, he realized the trick.

"Your better then I thought Kakashi. But really, I would have thought you could do better. One shuriken…oh the agony." Kirato was laughing.

"Check it again." Kakashi said right before the shuriken, embedded in Kirato's leg, exploded.

"Already noticed it. Exploding tag, not bad. Too bad you only hit the bunshin." Kirato said from behind Kakashi, kunai at the jounin's neck. "I had one of my special rock bunshin ready before I engaged you. When I saw your attack, I knew it was too obvious for the genius Copy-cat. So I switched with the clone and used my bloodline from here to make you think you were attacking the real me." With that, Kirato slashed Kakashi's neck right open, only to have it turn into a load of stones. "Damn a rock bunshin!" Kirato swore and hid. Kakashi was good, but no one could have seen the bunshin that quickly, at least no one without a special ace. "God damn Sharingan eyes…"

Well hidden by several invisibility and hiding genjutsu, someone was watching the whole battle. Two swords hung at his sides, his hands not far from them as he observed the combatants. From afar, he judged his target. 'Not bad…good bloodline on him, he relies on it way too much though. If I get him in the air, its over. I wonder if I can save the other four…his bandits will be here soon, and I'm guessing they are more then they appear. Well why bother asking myself when I can get the answer, right?' His eyes turned gray, and he focused on Kirato. He learned everything there was to know about him in an instant, and saw the end of the battle. 'Looks like I'll be stepping in…' The spectator also gained insight as to the skill level of the "bandits." 'Damn these leaf nin are lucky. All chunin or higher…talk about bad intel. I wonder if Konoha would pay more for their heads.' The stranger pulled a strange, unusual weapon off his back, a bow and arrow. The bow silver and had on odd glow to it. He knocked an arrow, a golden arrow that radiated heat, and aimed. 'Distance…obstacles…wind…humidity…target size…wait for the shot…perfect.' He fired.

**Earlier**

Kakashi was staring intently at his opponent from the bush he had hidden in. 'C'mon damnit…drop your guard…' Kakashi was thankful that Naruto's concern for his crush had overridden his cocky attitude and need to 'kick ass' and also thankful that Sasuke had realized this opponent was beyond him, and had done what was sensible. Kakashi was disappointed in Sakura, but he let it pass. He was lucky as it was. 'C'mon…' At that point, Kirato turned and stared right at him. 'Oh sh.' Kakashi couldn't even finish before he was trapped in a cocoon of solid, unbreakable stone. Even his face was covered.

"A good run Kakashi, but your Sharingan can't get you out of this. And your brats sure as hell aren't going too. My "bandits" were trained by me personally. Each one could wipe the floor with all three of your runts. But enough chat, time for you to die." Kirato began to compact the stone cocoon, and Kakashi was frantically trying to find a weakness, but not even his Chidori could get him out of this one, at least not without killing him in the process, which kind of made the whole thing mute anyway. Then, Kakashi heard this last thing he thought would be his last sound. Kirato screaming.

"WHAT IN THE HELL!" Kirato saw the arrow fly right past him and into the stone cocoon, and literally vaporize the entire thing.

"Good question…" Kakashi said, stepping out of what remained of his prison. "Who should I thank for that? Not one of mine." Kakashi said. He picked up and inspected the arrow, noticing it to be an odd, foreign weapon. "Hmm…what do we have here?"

"You should thank me Leaf."

"Who might you be?" Kakashi asked, as the speaker stepped forward from behind Kirato.

"My name is my own for the time being. You're welcome on the rescue by the way. You can keep the arrow; it's not as if you or anyone else can replicate it." The speaker said. He had long blonde hair, radiant blue eyes, and a wide grin on his face. He instantly reminded Kakashi of a certain genin. The black armor, the twin blades, and what Kakashi assumed to be the device that shot the arrow made him look a hell of a lot more menacing then the orange jumpsuit Naruto wore though. He was also no older then 14.

"Umm...thanks?" Kakashi responded, not sure what to make of this. Here was a kid no older then many genin and a few chunin, and he had just saved his ass.

"Don't mention it. If you don't mind taking care of Kirato here's bandits, they are coming up from 11 o'clock. You and your genin should be able to handle them. I will take care of Kirato." The stranger said in a business fashion, although not haughty or rude, in fact it was kind of cheerful.

"Kid, just 'cause you beat down my shield you think you can take me? I'm an elite missing-nin. What are you? You don't even have a forehead protector. And the armor doesn't scare me, nor do a few flashy weapons."

"Yakashuzi Kirato right? I was hired to kill you. I won't say whom although I imagine you have a fair idea, although I am thinking that I can get a higher price on your head elsewhere." The stranger said to Kirato, glancing at Kakashi has he finished his statement.

"I'm going to give you one chance to walk away and tell the people who hired you to back off."

"Not happening. Kakashi, why are you still standing here? The bandits are going to be here any minute, and you might want to capture them. If I fight them, I will kill them." He stated matter-of-factly. Kakashi was really wondering about this kid, but contacted his team and sent them after the bandits. With Kakashi helping them along with Naruto's ability to double their numbers, they quickly won and came back to find the blonde haired stranger and Kirato still talking.

"Aren't you going to…I don't know…attack me?"

"I enjoy a good conversation. And to be honest, you aren't going to be much trouble, so I figure I should enjoy this and at least get to know the man I'm going to kill."

"You are a strange one. Well, if you don't mind, I warned you, know I'm going to kill you."

"Be my guest, Yakashuzi Kirato." The stranger said in a tone that basically seethed bad-assness (Sakura's thoughts: 'This guy's pretty cool…but not better than Sasuke!') and told everyone that it was on.

Kirato forced the ground beneath the stranger to erupt into sharp spikes. Kakashi had seen this before and was certain that they could easily impale anything in their way, including armor. Most of the spikes his the armor and shattered, but Kirato had one aim for the stranger's head. He brought it right under the neck of the stranger.

"Give up, your outclassed. My bloodline is unbeatable."

"First off, you have no idea who you are dealing with. Second, most bloodlines are about as useful as a balsa wood kunai against me."

"Die you little shit." Kirato spat this out. He couldn't believe an idiotic little punk would insult him. He reached out for the rock spike at the boy's throat and thrust it upward. Instead of impaling the boy's neck, it too simply shattered.

"What….what are you made out of?"

"Heh…like I said. You need more intel. I really should've sent a Myrmidon to deal with you…I was hoping you'd be fun but you really on that bloodline more than I thought. I really gotta learn to use Mom's gift a little better I suppose." With that, the stranger blurred. Kakashi still had his Sharingan out, hoping to get some good techniques, but he couldn't follow the kid at all. He reappeared in front of Kirato and, in one motion, drew his sword and cut off Kirato's head. Sakura threw up, Sasuke and Kakashi stood in shock, while Naruto came to a startling realization.

'His skin…Achilles had skin harder then any armor from being dipped into the river Styx…'

The stranger took the head and performed a basic jutsu to prevent decay on it, and turned to the group. "Sorry if the mess bothers you, but I'm sure you, being shinobi understand. Kakashi-san, would you mind telling me what the bounty is on Kirato in Konoha?"

"The hunter team sent after him would receive A-rank commission, but for one person its easily S-rank."

"That's a hell of a lot more then Rock wanted. Cheap bastards. Mind if I tag along with you guys and collect on that? You can of course hold my weapons, although I'd like to keep the armor, which you can inspect." The stranger said.

Kakashi was even more puzzled, but the stranger seemed to be willing to obey any precautions so he didn't see why not. The stranger however, had other thoughts. He had noticed Naruto's uncanny similarity to him, except the difference in hair style, but even that reminded him of someone he knew to be of relations.

**Later that night**

The gang and their extra were gathered around a camp fire cooking dinner. They had their hostages tied to a tree surrounded by extremely dangerous traps. Sasuke was doing a little more than his usual brooding. He was pissed. He had just watched a kid maybe a year older than him trash an opponent he would have been destroyed fighting.

'How…how did he get that strength? That's what I need to kill him…that and the eyes'

Sasuke got up and walked over to him.

"Train me, or take me to someone who can. I need your power." Sasuke said.

"You wouldn't survive seeing my trainers, much less their regimens." The stranger responded.

"Do you know who I am? I am an elite U."

"Uchiha. I know and I don't care. Let me take a few guesses. Your want to kill Itachi right? Well, you should give up on that." The stranger said calmly. Sasuke was angry know.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW! I AM AN AVENGER! I HAVE TO GET STRONGER AND I WILL KILL MY BROTHER!" Sasuke had never known that kind of rage before, but something about the way the stranger said it…it made it sound like he believe killing Itachi was impossible.

"Calm down. I met Itachi once. Good fight, one of the few I didn't kill, but then, he ran into me, I wasn't hunting him. But trust me, I seriously doubt you could take him. You probably want to counter his Mangekyou by gaining it yourself, which is pointless because he will have better mastery over it anyway. Furthermore, his raw talent far surpasses your own. I will look into the outcome of your fight." With this, his eyes turned from blue to gray, and he stared quitley into the stars for a few minutes before responding. "Just as I thought. You lose, badly." Kakashi had heard enough. NOONE could know this much without being a spy of some kind.

"Okay just who in hell are you?" Kakashi asked interrogatively, "no-one knows that much who isn't from Konoha. Are you a spy, an assassin? I want your story." Kakashi was on edge now.

"No need to get excited Kakashi-san. My name is Kratos. It's a little hard to pronounce in this language but try to say it. You are welcome to call me Krato is need be. I am the leader of an elite unit of mercenaries, the Myrmidons." At this Naruto stood up.

"As in…Achilles' unit?" Kratos raised an eyebrow at this.

"How do you know that? Yes that is who we based ourselves off of. But that tale is almost completely gone from this world. How do you know of it?"

"This." Naruto pulled out his book and showed it to Kratos. "I had an odd dream about a man I assumed to be Achilles and I got some advice from…a friend (Kakashi freaked at this. He knew who Naruto was talking about, and made a note to talk to Naruto about this) and he told me to look for a copy. I had to dig through vaults of old books but I found it."

"The dream, describe it to me!" Kratos said, urgency in his voice. Naruto went on to describe it in detail. Kratos listened intently, and at the end of Naruto's reiteration, he spoke.

"I don't believe it…Mother herself couldn't see it…how…I suppose it makes sense…the hair the eyes…" Kratos was rambling now, he had a look of great distress on his face. "I need to test something. Come here, it won't hurt." Kakashi was hesitant, but before he could say anything Naruto was already in front of the other boy. Kratos placed his palm on Naruto's shoulder and his eyes went gray. And then a look of shock, followed by absolute joy came over his face. "ITS YOU!" He shouted.

"Nani!" Naruto shouted, freaked out by the sudden outburst from the at one point calm boy.

"I found you…brother! Brother…"

* * *

POST NOTES: 

So what do you think? My first attempt at a long chapter and my first shot at a fight scene. Please tell me what you thought, I really appreciate it. All questions will be answered to the best of my ability, and if you find a flaw, rest assured I will try to fix it or patch it up in a later chapter. Also, if some-one could translate any moves I didn't get into Japanese like my original ones, I would appreciate it. Reviews will let me make a better story and too become a better writer, so please, take 5 minutes or less to tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 2: Explanations

Author's Note:

Okay, sorry this took slightly longer than usual to put out but I had a rough week. Anyway, thanks to the 9 people who reviewed my story, all of your comments your great and really helped me out.

Here are the pairing votes thus far:

Tayuya - 1

Kin - 1

Temari - 1

TenTen- 1

Kurenai- 2

Anko - 1

Shizune – 2

These are not the only candidates but these are the ones people voted for. You can vote for **any female** Naruto character except Tsunade.

Okay so on with chapter 2.

* * *

Chapter 2:

Explanations

Needless to say, the Team was shocked. Naruto just passed out. Sasuke looked up but didn't show much interest.

'I'm better then all of them anyway.' He thought.

Sakura was surprised and asked Naruto's usual question for him.

"NANI!" She asked, even managing to sound like Naruto as she said it.

"Yeah, would you mind explaining?" Kakashi asked. Kratos began to pull himself together after giving his unconscious brother a very long hug.

"Sorry, it's just my mother and I, we thought he was dead. I guess I can explain how it is that I am sure of our relation first off." Kratos said. His eyes went from radiant blue to a misty gray as he said this. "This is a…bloodline of my family. I will not entrust all its secrets to you but I will tell you that it grants a certain amount of…omnipotence. I have no idea why it failed to show me Naruto before he was right in front of me, but I will think on that later."

"When we get back to Konoha you're going to have to give a better explanation than that." Kakashi said, dissatisfied. Kratos had only said that he had a bloodline and could easily be lying, so naturally, Kakashi did not trust him.

"I am not finished. Our family goes very far back before it mingles into the gods themselves. Achilles, the hero of that legend, is my ancestor. Before he died, he impregnated a woman. Slowly, the family line continued through the ages, although it never formed a clan. Eventually, it reached my father. Natural combat instincts run in my family, along with a few other advance traits. The doujutsu is a new addition. Accelerated healing and a sturdier body are just a few."

'So it wasn't Kyuubi…" Kakashi thought.

"I'm sure you've noticed that Naruto can take a beating like no one else and keep going right? It's common in my family. Achilles had another trait that I am the first to regain. That would be…well better to show you." Kratos took out a kunai and tossed it to Kakashi. "Throw it at my head, neck, wherever, so long as its exposed skin."

"Are you insane? I'm he's a jounin, it would go right through you!" Sakura said. As she finished speaking, Kakashi threw. He had seen the effect the rock spike had on Kratos, and had his suspicions.

'Must be some kind of jutsu right?' He thought, but Kratos made no hand seals, and showed no sign of dodging. As the kunai impacted, a thud was heard and the kunai bounced off. 'Impossible, I put chakra into that…'

"Near invincibility or iron hard skin is pretty helpful in combat. I don't have to worry too much about defense, especially when nothing can touch me if I don't let it. Any way, take a look at what happened to **your** kunai." He picked the kunai up off the ground and handed it too Kakashi, who began to inspect, finding that the tip was bent, and large cracks had appeared in the metal.

"Damn…that skin, is it another bloodline? Wait what do you mean **my** kunai?"

"You think I'd waste on of my own weapons for something I already knew? I stole on of yours, and I'm not saying how. And no, my skin is not a bloodline." Sasuke looked up at this.

'That means it has to be a technique! If I can get my Sharingan, then I can copy it! That power will help me kill him…' Sasuke thought.

"But you have to be a part of my family in order to gain it, unless Mother approves of you, but even then, Father did not receive it." Kratos said.

"You will take me to your mother and have her grant me that power." Sasuke demanded, "I need it to kill him." Kakashi was starting get concerned for the Uchiha. He was starting to become darker in his obsession for revenge, and Kakashi knew it wasn't healthy.

"Sasuke-chan, be quiet. I don't want to hear about your obsession any more." Kratos said. Sasuke looked pissed, but the glare Kratos sent him made him shut up.

"I realize none of what I said is definite proof, but when Naruto wakes up, I can prove it beyond doubt." The group waited for about an hour and a half before going to sleep, but Kratos stayed awake. He walked away from the camp into the forest until he found a clearing. He turned his head to the sky and quietly said "Hermes, I need a favor." Less then a second later, a man roughly 19 or so appeared dressed in a robe and winged shoes.

"Kratos, it's been awhile!" He said joyfully. "Your mother has been worried sick about you, and she's raising all kinds of hell. Hera tried to pull her shit on your mom again and ended up falling off the mountain! Even your uncle was scared after that."

"Well, I have some good news for mom. Give this to her would you?" Kratos handed the messenger god a letter. "It's extremely important."

"Sure, sure. It's my job after all." Hermes disappeared, and Kratos went back to the camp, to find Naruto awake. Kratos sat down next to him, and the two remained silent for awhile. Eventually, Naruto simply couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Well? Going to explain what in hell you meant when you called me your brother? You are either mistaken or lying. I am an orphan, no parents, no family." Naruto said. His voice was seething with anger.

"I cant prove we are related yet. But when we get back to the village I can. I need to tell you, I am sorry Naruto. When mother couldn't find you, we assumed you were lost. We would have checked the Underworld but certain…arguments between its ruler and my mother made that impossible. I should have looked for you…I should have tried to find you…I am so sorry Naruto." Kratos pulled him into another hug, tears coming from his eyes. Naruto was beginning to let his anger slip. He still didn't believe Kratos, but he had less doubts. Still he pulled out of the hug and stared at Kratos, demanding one more thing.

"Prove it…prove you are my brother." Naruto was actually starting to get distraught. He noticed an uncanny resemblance between him and the stranger. The hair, the eyes, not many people had that radiant color in them, and not even Naruto was dense enough to ignore it. (AN: Naruto hasn't seen a picture of the Yondaime so he hasn't made the connection yet.) Naruto recalled Kyuubi's earlier advice while he was in his mind

* * *

FLASHBACK 

_**'Kit, you should trust him.'**_

_'Why, and how would you know if he's telling the truth?'_

_**'Just trust the 10,000 year old demon okay?'**_

_'This isn't something I can just go ahead and believe! It's not like what kind of ramen I'm going to eat, I might actually have family. I can't just go an open myself up!'_

_**'Kit. Shut up and do as I say. I am trying to help you.'**_

_'You have done a hell of a lot in that area.'_

_**'Look, I'm sorry that the people are your village are weak, ignorant, and cowardly enough to pick on you because they think a gaki like you is the Lord of Demons. But you should seriously give this man a chance. He isn't a normal human, I can tell that much even from within you.'**_

_'But…I can't take it if it's a lie.'_

_**'Even if it is, you can always push for some training. You saw what he did to that nin. It was quick, deadly, and perfectly executed. He is very strong, and maybe you can get him to give you some of that strength. Furthermore, why do you think you had that dream of yours? Humans get that kind of thing sometimes; it's like a forewarning of an event. That boy knew of Achilles, there has to be some connection.'**_

_'Fine fur ball. I'll see where this leads and I'll give him a chance.'_

END FLASHBACK

* * *

Kratos was staring at Naruto now. One second, Naruto was demanding proof, and the next he was staring off into space. 

"Naruto…Naruto?"

"Yeah sorry… I was just thinking. Anyway…for the time being I'll believe you, seeing as you do look a hell of a lot like me, except your hair isn't all spiky. But you had better prove it when we get back."

"Sure niichan." Kratos said, ruffling his new-found brothers hair. "C'mon, let's get some sleep."

* * *

The journey back to Konoha was uneventful. It took two days to make it back, and Kakashi was glad that no major disasters seemed to follow Kratos back to Konoha. During the journey back, the two had talked quite a bit, and Kakashi mentioned that he had a theory as to why they could not detect Naruto with their eyes. When questioned further, Kakashi simply told Kratos to talk to the Hokage. When they arrived in Konohagakure, Kakashi immediately dismissed Sakura and Sasuke. 

"Sakura, Sasuke, you two are free to go. Team meeting tomorrow at seven, see you then. Kratos, you'll have to come with me to see the Hokage. Naruto, you should come too." Sasuke went off to train, followed by the ever-pestering Sakura. Kratos and Naruto made their way to the Hokage tower along with Kakashi.

Kratos noticed something as they walked through Konoha. Everyone was staring at them. He heard whispers as they walked. He picked out the words "Demon brat" several times. He could see hatred in their eyes, and he could not pick out why.

'Perhaps they are not welcoming to outsiders, but why call them demons? Perhaps the Hokage can explain.'

The Hokage was busy filling out paper work, the bane of his existence. The urge to burn it all with one simple jutsu was overwhelming, but he resisted. An ANBU opened the entrance to his office, and the Hokage looked up. The ANBU could see the Hokage was irritated.

"Hokage-sama, Kakashi of Team 7 is hear with the kid and…some other guy."

"Send them in." The three walked into the room, and Kakashi bowed. Naruto shouted "OJII-SAN" and hugged the venerable Hokage. Kratos simply tilted his head. "Kakashi, your report?"

"Mission success. However, it was no C rank. The missing nin Yakashuzi Kirato was leading that group of bandits. Kirato himself was as strong, if not stronger then me. We should be dead, but the boy behind us saved us by taking out Kirato. The bandits were not much trouble after that; we tied them up not far from here so ANBU could pick them up. They are stuck in a genjutsu; they won't be going anywhere until we move them. Sir…it is not the mission that I came to speak about. It's these two. Apparently, they are brothers."

"What?" The Hokage was shocked to say the least.

"If I may sir," Kratos stepped forward, "I am willing to submit myself to any test you have to prove the relation. Since Naruto hasn't awakened the eyes yet, there is not much I can do to prove it other then that." Kratos said. Naruto was getting nervous. He had no trouble half-believing Kratos, but if it turned out to be a lie, Naruto would be devastated. If it turned out to be true…Naruto wasn't sure what he would do.

"Of course, but would you mind explaining who you are? You have no headband yet you obviously have advanced shinobi skills to take out a nin such as Kirato."

"My name is Kratos. I will not reveal my surname yet. My family is a line of great warriors, and I have been trained by the best. I am the current leader of a new mercenary group called the Myrmidons after a unit my ancestor Achilles lead." He said.

"Well then Kratos, welcome to Konoha. If you will accompany me to the hospital, we can perform a few simple tests that can verify your claim. Kakashi, take Naruto there will you? I want to speak with Kratos." Sarutobi said.

"Of course Hokage-sama." Kakashi and Naruto left for the hospital. Naruto was a wreck. In a matter of a few hours he would find out if this man was a lying bastard or if Naruto really did have family. Even if it was true, would his family accept him after finding out about the Kyuubi?

"Kakashi-sensei…what if what he says is true…you know about it…will he be told?" Naruto asked. Kakashi was surprised his student trusted him enough to ask him.

"Probably, Naruto. But Kratos doesn't seem the type to judge you that way. I don't think he will hate you, and if he does, then he doesn't deserve to be related to you. As for your mother…I don't know. But Naruto, if he is your brother, then trust him. He seems like a good guy." Kakashi said.

"Thanks sensei."

"No problem." He responded as they walked into the hospital.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Sandaime and Kratos were talking business. 

"After the war with the Kyuubi, the forces of the leaf were greatly weakened. ANBU was cut down to being a simple police force and with the Uchiha massacre, the leaf lost that to. While our forces have been replenishing since, we are still dangerously weak against enemies like the Cloud or the Rock." Sandaime explained, "You have with you the head of Kirato to prove the kill?"

"Of course." Kratos responded, tossing the bag to Sandaime. He inspected the preserved head, and, finding it was in fact the head of Yakashuzi Kirato, he announced his offer.

"I would like to hire you and your mercenaries to join the leaf as a new unit. Your role will be to act as the primary military force of Konoha. This way, ANBU can stick to police work and assassinations, instead of worrying about repelling the forces of other villages."

"This village can provide for 132 men?" Kratos said. He was considering the offer the Hokage was presenting. If the village could provide it, it meant steady income and a good supply of food. The background check would be a minor inconvenience, not that they would find anything on him anyway.

"Yes, if they are willing to fight for it."

"Old man, I've got a few conditions. I don't want my men bound to anyone's orders but mine, not that they would listen. I don't give out allegiances, I forge alliances. So if you want my to swear my sword to your command, forget it. If you want my sword backing you as a partner, I'm all for it." Kratos said. "We also require our own compound. I can design it and build it, I only need the space."

"I can agree to those terms. It will have to be finalized with the council, but they should not have a problem with this."

"Alright then. Since I'm going to keep the move quiet, my forces will be here within...a week and a half. I'll give you all the data you need on them then. One more thing, if any of my men want reassignment, they can have it. Anyone who wants to join my unit is going to have to past my test."

"Alright, agreed. I'll set up a meeting with the council and a skill assessment test so we can place your rank. In the meantime, head to the hospital. I believe you but the tests are necessary."

"Sure thing."

"Oh Kratos, one more thing." Sandaime said, and tossed Kratos a hitai-ate. "Welcome to the leaf."

* * *

POST NOTES: 

This chapter was a little short, but honestly, I look at it as more of a filler chapter anyway. Next week we have the chunin exams and Kratos' test. At this point I'm looking for fight suggestions (yes, Kratos is going to help Naruto unlock his bloodline before the exam). I'm planning to have the first exam be at the end of the next chapter so it will be a long one. Until then, please review it makes me happy, so unless you want emo writing, review. Also, tell me what you thought of Kakashi's "caring sensei" role here. I threw it in for a teacher that helped me with my own problems.


	4. Chapter 3: Tests

Author's Notes:

First off, I am really happy with all the feedback you guys are giving me. 20 reviews isn't too shabby considering were only in chapter 3 here. 14 favorites and 32 alerts, I am pretty happy. To all those of you who reviewed, thank you very much for telling me what you thought, and to all those of you who didn't, please consider doing so. I am really sorry about this taking longer then usual, but it is my best chapter yet! Anyway, the pairing votes actually favored the OC for Naruto, and I'm closing the polls, since she's coming in next chapter. Here are your current stats, the polls close in two chapters so send in the votes people. Dear readers, enjoy Chapter 3 of Heirs of the Warrior!

* * *

Chapter 3:

Tests

* * *

Kratos arrived at the hospital shortly after finishing his business with Sandaime. His new hitai-ate, wrapped proudly around his forehead, drew instant attention from both Kakashi and Naruto. 

"Kratos-san, when did you become a leaf nin?" Kakashi asked.

"Just now. And not just me, my entire force. I need to send them a letter about that. Paperwork isn't final seeing as the Hokage wants to arrange some test of my abilities. See, the Hokage wanted to supplement leafs somewhat lacking forces with some high-quality warriors, which I happen to have in stock." Kratos was beaming, giving off one of his own trademark smiles. That smile made Kakashi flinch for a second; it was almost identical to Naruto's. "So anyway, I figured it might be a good idea to get some permanent shelter, as well as a steady supply of money and equipment."

"Welcome to the leaf then, I hope to work with you sometime." Kakashi said.

"SWEET! That means your going to stay right! You can train me even more now!" Naruto was ecstatic. 'Even if he isn't really my brother, he's a nice guy. We could definitely be good friends, but it would be way cooler if we were family.'

"So did the docs get what they needed from you bro?" Kratos asked. Kakashi was making constant notes about the boy now. If they were going to be comrades, Kakashi wanted to know everything possible about his ally. His latest mental note was how nonchalant Kratos was.

"Yeah, they got what they need from me." Naruto answered.

"Cool, guess I'm up ne…" Kratos was about to finish when he was interrupted by the entrance of the nurse that was taking the DNA and blood samples.

"Kratos-san? Will you come with me please?" She asked sweetly, however, before she left the room, she gave Naruto an icy stare. Kratos noticed Naruto flinch, but knew it would do no good to ask about it now.

"Yeah, sure." With that Kratos went off. Several minutes later, he re-entered the room, where Naruto was waiting. Kakashi had left awhile ago, probably helping old women cross streets while avoiding black cats. "Yo bro, that nurse says we can leave. The Hokage will have the results for us in about an hour."

"Cool. Umm I've been meaning to ask you…" Naruto started.

"Yeah?"

"Could I see those swords?" Naruto asked, pointing to the golden twin swords on Kratos' belt.

"Ordinarily I would say yes, but these are unusable by anyone but me. However, we can go pick up a similar pair, and I'll start teaching you how to use them." Kratos said, smiling at his little brother's enthusiasm. 'Damn…I have a lot of time to make up for little bro." Kratos thought.

Naruto and Kratos quickly picked up a pair of twin katanas similar to the pair wielded by Kratos, and Naruto practiced for about an hour, learning the basic swipes. By the time the results were in, Naruto had a good feel for his blades, an important first step with any weapon. Kratos was impressed but not surprised that Naruto had an aptitude for getting the feel of weapons. When Kakashi came to inform them that the Hokage had the results, he watched for around a minute as Naruto practiced.

'Wow, Naruto's got some potential in that field.' Kakashi thought. "Guys, the Hokage has the results." Kakashi said. Naruto clamed up, he had been blocking out the nervousness he felt, but with the test results so close to being read, it was impossible for him to hide his inner turmoil. At this point, Naruto had accepted Kratos as his brother, whether or not they were blood related. However, if they were family, Kratos had a right to know about the Kyuubi.

'What if he hates me?' Naruto thought.

**'He won't kit.'** Kyuubi thought to himself. Kyuubi made a note to himself to get the gaki to let him communicate telepathically.

Kratos and Naruto made their way again to the office of the Hokage. When they arrived, Sarutobi sat behind his desk with a happy look on his face.

"Kratos-san, Naruto-kun, I have the results right here," He said, pointing to an envelope on his desk. "Would you like to read them, or shall I?"

"You please old man." Naruto said. Kratos picked up the nervousness, and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder reassuringly.

"Very well. Putting aside all the medical jargon and the numbers, you two are pretty closely related. In other words, you are brothers." Sarutobi said, still smiling.

"So I have a family…and a mother…" Naruto said quietly.

"That's right bro. I sent a letter to Mother by way of an old friend. I haven't heard back yet, but I am damn sure she is anxious to meet you." Kratos said.

"I am very happy that your family has been reunited. However, we must look to the issue that broke it apart in the first place." The Hokage said his face suddenly solemn. Naruto started breathing quickly, and his body clenched up. "Naruto, do want to tell your brother, or would you prefer I do so?"

"N...no. I'll tell him." Naruto said.

'This is not going to be good…' Kratos said.

"Kratos-niisan, do you know about the 9 Bijuu?"

"If by that you mean the lesser Titans, yes." Kratos responded.

"Titan? Right whatever. 12 years ago on October 10, the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. I think the old man mentioned it."

"Yes, he said that was the reason for your depletion of shinobi and kunoichi."

"Well, no one could stop it. Then, the Yondaime used a special technique, one which called on the death god himself to seal the demon into a child."

"Yes, that part I am aware of. I was told the child died." Kratos said his heart beginning to race. Kratos knew where this was going.

"No Kratos-san. That child was your younger brother. The last wish of the Yondaime was to have this village treat your brother as a hero. I don't know if you noticed, but his dying wish was never respected." Sarutobi said. Kratos' worry had been replaced with anger. He started shaking, as his hair turned dark red, and his eyes became pools of black mist. Naruto was backing away crying. He was sure his brother hated him.

"I SHOULD OBLITERATE THIS WHOLE DAMN PLACE FOR ITS BIGGOTRY AND ARROGANCE! I SWEAR ON THESE BLADES, ANYONE WHO DARES INSULT, HARM, OR STARE AT MY BROTHER WITH THAT ATTITUDE WILL GO THE UNDERWORLD BLIND AND LIMBLESS WITH THEIR ENTRAILS SPILLING OUT OF THEIR OPEN STOMACHS!" Kratos roared, enraged. Kratos felt hatred and anger spread through him like wildfire. "AND YOU!" He pointed at Sandaime, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE HIM IN!?" He accused. Kratos noticed the Hokage and his brother were sweating, and Naruto was shaking due to the massive amount of killing intent being let loose. Kratos realized what he was doing and began to calm himself. He stopped releasing killing intent, and his physical appearance reverted to that of the nonchalant blonde haired teen.

"I wish I could have personally taken care of your brother Kratos, but if I had done so the villagers and the damned council would have been in an uproar. I did make every effort to ensure he was well cared for, although everything I tried fell apart and I ended up getting him an apartment." Sandaime said, relieved that the boy had calmed down. The amount of raw killing intent that had been let off made the Kyuubi's look like that of a toddler. Outside, the village was panicking until they felt the outbreak die down. Most were suspicious of the "Kyuubi brat."

"Yeah…niisan don't do that again, you scared the crap out of me. And the old man really did try. It's not his fault that almost everyone in the village is an major asshole." Naruto said.

"Yeah, sorry about the outbreak. The Kyuubi's chakra must have blocked my methods of searching for you, although I have no idea how. I need to develop the ability more I suppose. Naruto, you have nothing to fear from me. I don't care what you contain within you. I still love you little bro." He said, smiling. Naruto was crying as he embraced his brother. Eventually, the death grip was loosened. "Nice to know you share the sentiment. Naruto, we start training after my skill assessment test. We are also going to build a new house, so you'll have to help me plan it. That is, if you are okay with living with me. Anyway, let's go grab some dinner I'm hungry. You like ramen?

"Love it!" Naruto said happily. "Niisan, let's go to Ichiraku's! I have to tell old man Ichiraku about this!"

"Lead the way." Kratos said, happy his brother accepted him.

"Kratos-san, before you leave, you should know your test is tomorrow, 2 o'clock, Training field 23."

"Got it." Kratos said as he followed his brother out the office of the Hokage.

Kratos and Naruto had a good dinner, most of which consisted of talking. Old man Ichikaru and Ayame were especially happy. They were happy for Naruto, and they were happy that they got to hear the whole story. Above all however, they were happy because Kratos ate three times as much as his little brother. Between the two of them, they were able to pay the restaurants bills for the next month.

After dinner, Kratos and Naruto went back to his apartment, seeing as Kratos had nowhere else to sleep. Kratos changed out of his battle armor into a black T-shirt with the image of a snow owl riding on a wolf set in front of a full moon on the back of it. The front had a sword emblazoned on it, blade pointing downward, which looked similar to his katana but slightly more elaborate. Naruto wondered about the odd clothing, but decided sleep took priority.

The Next Day

Kratos woke up around 6, and went to check on his younger brother, whom he found sprawled out on his bed, snoring, muttering something about blossoms and ramen.

'Interesting sub-conscious. Kid's probably a psychological nightmare. I'll let him sleep. After all, once he starts my training he won't get much." Kratos throught, then left Naruto to his dreams. Kratos slipped into his armor and left, beginning a morning jog, which by the standards of normal people was sprinting a Marathon 400 times over. On the way, he ran into the extremely surprised Maito Gai and his young protégé, Rock Lee.

"GAI-SENSEI! WHO IS THIS WHO POSSES SUCH FLAMES OF YOUTH?!" Lee shouted, not stopping his own jog. After all, he was only on lap 150 out of 300.

"HE IS THE NEW SHINOBI LEE! HE DOES APPEAR TO BE IN THE SPRINGTIME OF HIS YOUTH! WE MUST RUN EVEN FASTER TO MATCH HIS YOUTH! WE WILL INCREASE OUR LAPS TO 400, AND THE WEIGHTS AS WELL!" Konoha's elder spandex freak turned to Kratos and activated the nice guy pose. "YOU! KRATOS RIGHT?! WILL YOU JOIN THE YOUTHFULNESS THAT IS THE GREEN BEASTS!" He asked.

"Umm…I'll pass."

"AAH! HE IS HIP LIKE KAKASHI! LEE WE MUST OUTDO HIM! LET US RUN THE LAPS!"

"YOSH! AND IF I CANNOT FINISH THEM, I WILL DO 10,000 JUMPING JACKS!"

"AND IF YOU CANNOT COMPLETE THAT, I WILL DELIVER 700 PUNCHES TO A WALL OF SUPER HOT STEEL THAT WILL HAVE SPIKES ON IT!" This exchange continued on for awhile, until eventually leading to the most horrendous part of the entire scene.

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

The strange, in-explicable Genjutsu went up and Kratos sweat dropped. He was not only deaf, but now scarred for life, the image of a grown man and his look-alike student dressed in green spandex hugging. Never, in all his life, had he seen anything more disturbing to him.

'You did not see that, you did not see that…' Kratos thought, trying to banish the images from his mind.

Kratos finished his morning jog by 9, which by his standards was slow, but he, coincidentally considering his run in with the newly christened unmentionable ones, had increased his chakra weights by 100 pounds, so he was not too disappointed. He had managed to keep up the same pace without stopping, save for the encounter with the unmentionable ones, which he deeply regretted. He found an empty training field and, after a fraction of a second, a veritable army of clones appeared. The original Kratos drew his swords and the battle royal began.

As Kratos and his clones went at it, they were being observed. Kratos knew it, but he honestly didn't care about the person observing him. Sasuke was trying to see what Kratos was capable of, and to find out if any of his techniques were worth copying when he got his Sharingan. Naturally, he was shocked when just under 1,000 clones appeared out of nowhere, without a single movement or word on the part of Kratos.

'He must be very quick with hand seals.' Sasuke thought. In truth, Kratos had simply done his technique mentally. Sasuke intently watched the battle, although all he could make out were how many clones were left. He was unable to see anything in the way of Kenjutsu due to the extremely high speed with which each attack was made. However, towards the end of the battle Kratos and his clones began slowing down, reaching the cool-down point in their work out after an hour of intense combat, and Sasuke saw one get stabbed. Had it been a Shadow clone like Sasuke thought, it would have burst into smoke. Instead, it simply walked backward so that the sword came out of his rib cage, which glowed gold, then healed.

'What in the hell was that?! A clone capable of taking that kind of damage? I need to copy that when I get my Sharingan. If he just did the hand seals incredibly quick, I will be able to see them and steal his technique. I had better go train more for it.' Sasuke thought, semi-awestruck by the technique. As he finished his thought, a kunai with a note on its handle which read:

_ Dear Gaki,_

_ Hope you enjoyed the show. Just so you know, that was a warm-up so I could analyze my fighting style. And I didn't use hand seals, don't need them, so don't get your hopes about copying my moves once you get your pathetic little eyes. See you around weakling._

_ With significant disdain,_

_ Kratos_

_ PS: Ever spy on me again, I will see to it that your life AND your after life are excruciatingly painful._

Beneath the post script, there was a little picture of a chibi Kratos with his finger running across is throat.

'When in hell did he write and draw that?! And what does he mean no hand seals, does this mean I can't copy it?!' Sasuke thought. Just then, he noticed the note had something on the back. The seal for an exploding note. 'Shit.' Sasuke thought as he was blown away. He headed back to the Uchiha compound after recovering to spend the two hours he had before the meeting Team 7 training.

Kratos left the training ground and left to survey the field where he would be tested on. He had four hours to rig a few preparations.

'In a war, the warrior must prepare for each battle. It's 10 o'clock, that gives me plenty of time to set up some traps. I don't know what the test is, but it will be helpful to have some advance preparations.' He thought. The field was guarded to ensure it would not be interfered with, but Kratos slipped by easily. He simply ran past the guard, who did not have a prayer of being able to see the intruder. Three hours and 50 minutes later, Kratos was extremely proud of his work. A combination of traps ranging from pranks to one's that could cause permanent paralysis and massive amounts of pain were carefully concealed throughout the field, about 60 in all. Kratos sat down in the middle of the field and began to meditate. His preparations allowed him to get an excellent understanding of the layout of the field, and he ran over every rock, every tree, every single feature that he encountered. When the Hokage arrived with a team of ANBU and hunter-nin, in addition to the Rookie 9 and their instructors, plus Team Gai, they were not expecting to find him there.

"Kratos-san, how did you get past the guard?" Sarutobi asked.

"About that, security in this village sucks. When my Myrmidons arrive, I will have some train your ANBU." He responded. The ANBU present as well as the former members present all flinched.

'The demon child's brother eh? Bastard thinks he is better then us huh? Maybe I'll kill him and take away that monster's family like he did mine." The leader of the present ANBU thought.

"You should stop by my office to discuss that. Anyway, your assessment will consist of two separate tests. The first will be an evasion test lasting one hour. The ANBU and hunter-nin behind me are some of our village's best, and they will be the one's after you. If you can either incapacitate them, of which I am doubtful, or can evade them for an hour, you pass, and move on to the next test." The Hokage said.

"Alright. You should have whoever's needed for the second test get ready. This won't take long." Kratos said, his mind already completing his evasion route. Those ANBU were in for hell.

"Very well. BEGIN!" The Hokage yelled. Kratos instantly ran toward a small grove of trees. The ANBU waited about 5 minutes, wanting to give him a head start. When the started following him, it did not take long before they encountered problems. They knew exactly where he was, he had made no effort to hide. However, surrounding him were some extremely painful traps. 2 ANBU were already incapacitated, and the others were trying to find away around. The captain was getting very frustrated

"DAMNIT! YOU ARE GOING TO DIE! THAT DEMONS FAMILY IS GOING TO SUFFER LIKE MINE DID!" The captain yelled. Naruto, being close enough to hear the captains statement, flinched, but this time not because the words hurt. This time, it was because of the side of his brother he saw the day before.

"You know, the Hokage did not say ANYTHING about not killing you. You just signed your death warrant." Kratos said, rage beginning to seep into his voice. His hair again began to change, along with his eyes, although this time it was slower. 'Control it.' Kratos thought. He stood up, allowing a sever amount of killing intent to radiate from him.

The Hokage felt the wave, and instantly knew what was going to happen to that foolish ANBU. 'It's just as well. He would have been executed for calling Naruto a demon anyway.

Kratos disappeared from his spot in the center of the grotto, reappearing behind the ANBU captain, swords drawn.

"DAMN YOU!" The captain yelled, throwing a kick behind him. Kratos grabbed it and the captains hip, and, in one movement, ripped it off. He slashed out the mans eyes with one of his blades.

"This is the price of your bigotry towards the innocent. May you learn to see virtue to replace the loss of the ability to see the world." He said, walking away. The other ANBU was shaking furiously. Kratos looked at him and spoke to her. "Walk away. Try to fight me as I am now, and you will die." He flashed her a psychotic smile, and she fainted. Kratos walked back to the Hokage, who was looking at him expectantly.

"You defeated the ANBU, but the hunter nins?" The Hokage asked.

"They haven't even moved yet. Waiting for me to calm down hmm? At least your trackers are smart. I can see why you need a new offensive unit, your ANBU performed pathetically. Well, hunters, let's continue." And with that, Kratos disappeared.

'Arte-chan herself can't catch me, these guys have no chance.' Kratos thought.

Over a period of a half hour he led them through several routes of traps he had set up. One by one, they were knocked out. They were being picked off like flies. The Jounin instructors were scared. None of them could have done alone what this kid was doing, and they were his next test. And it wasn't an evasion test either.

The Hokage decided enough was enough, he didn't want his best team unable to do their jobs. He called the challenge, and conferred with the Jounin instructors and the remaining ANBU and hunters who were capable of speaking. They decided he was at least Sepcial Jounin, if not Kage level.

"Very impressive, Kratos-san. Are all of your soldiers this skilled?" Kakashi asked.

"Most can do what I just did. That was some of the basic skills that my elites and I teach our trainees." Kratos responded.

"When did you set the traps? Those were extremely complicated, you couldn't have done that so quickly. Oh, can **please **I get a look at those swords?" TenTen asked with wide eyes.

"Those traps were set before-hand. And you can look, but don't try to touch them. By the way Hokage-sama, in the future, give more specific orders. You gave only one rule of engagement, which happens to be my favorite. You told me to win basically. I could have easily killed the captain. By the way, he broke the law." Kratos said, first to TenTen, then to the Hokage.

"You have as good a philosophy for combat as any." Genma said.

"It works for me." Kratos said, finally showing one of his usual smiles.

"Apparantly. Anyway, the next test is a combat skills test. You will be fighting the instructors here; they are Konoha's resident experts in their given fields. Yuuhi Kurenai, Genjutsu mistress of Konoha." The Hokage said, motioning to Kurenai, who stepped forward and bowed.

"You are quite skilled with your body, but how strong is your mind?" She asked.

"I think I could teach you a think or two. Advice, don't hold back and use kid's stuff, it won't do anything. An honor to meet you, I look forward to seeing what you can do." Kratos said.

The Hokage then pointed to Genma. "Our best strategist." A similar exchange took place before the Hokage moved on. "Kakashi-san you already know. He is our ninjutsu expert." Then the Hokage pointed towards the next instructor, and Kratos froze up. The Hokage continued, "This is Maito Gai, Taijutsu master of Konoha."

"I LOOK FORWARD TO TESTING YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH!" Gai shouted, and Kratos shuddered.

"You…" Kratos tried to speak but could only manage to look away, not wanting to further torment himself. He had to introduce these two to his torturer. He would make good use out of the two.

"Right anyway, I think we should test your Kenjutsu as well, seeing as you do seem to use weapons. Would one of you get Hayate-san here?" The Hokage asked, pointing to the Genin.

"YOSH!" Lee answered, speeding off to go and get the ever-sick sword master. Shortly thereafter, the mini green beast returned with the swordsman in tow.

"Thank you Lee. This is the best swordsman in Konoha, although young TenTen may take his place." The Hokage said. "Now that introductions are complete, I will take your advice, Kratos, and lay out some rules. This is a five on one fight. No one can kill or permanently injure anyone." The Hokage said.

"Gotcha. If you guys have any thing on you that will limit your ability, remove it. I intend to show you what I can really do." Kratos said. He turned off the chakra weights in his armor, and at the same time glowing purple seals became visible on his body, which promptly faded.

"Gravity seals?!" Kakashi, Sarutobi, and Gai said at once. The latter of the three began taking off his own weights which, unlike the neat efficiency of Kratos' chakra set, left gargantuan craters in the field. Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate, revealing the Sharingan.

"Right, the Genin are here to watch the fight as a learning experience. They and I will watch from a safe distance. When we are safely away, I will begin the match." Sarutobi said. The Jounin took starting positions that would allow them to hide themselves when the match started. When the observers were a safe distance away, the fight began, and each combatant disappeared.

Kurenai was safely hidden behind several Genjutsu, some which concealed her presence, others which drove those coming near whom she did not allow away. Kratos reappeared right behind her, and she spun around, already in the middle of using one of her best Genjutsu.

"Magen: Jin Dansa Ikijigoku no Jutsu!" (AKA: Demonic Illusion: 9th Level of Hell no jutsu) She announced, smirking. This jutsu was her original enhancement to the 1st Level of Hell illusion. No one save for Itachi had ever broken it. She expected to start hearing the screams of a man being tortured by his personal version of the King of Hell. She was shocked when she saw Kratos simply blink and shrug.

"Not bad, but Genjutsu, as you hinted earlier, relies on the power of the mind. When the will of one mind is strong, so is the illusion it puts onto another mind. However, no illusion, not even the infamous Tsukiyomi can stand before a powerful mind. The opposite also holds true. An illusion fabricated by a strong mind is almost impossible to break. Let's see how you do with my own technique." Kratos said. Kurenai didn't see a single hand sign but she felt herself being surrounded by a immensely powerful Genjutsu, one which would have drained her chakra reserves had she been the user. She realized that she was underwater, blind, deaf, and unable to move. She couldn't form the seals needed for the dispel technique, but she was fairly certain it wouldn't work anyway. Bubbles began forming throughout the water, and she noticed a significant rise in temperature.

'I can't move, I am running low on breathe, and now the water is starting to boil. Kid's good, even better then me. Maybe he could teach me this technique…' Kurenai thought before screaming from the pain of searing hot water, although she didn't hear it due to her mind thinking her lungs had no oxygen to use for a scream. The other Jounin did, however, and they all felt adrenaline surge.

The Genin and the Hokage heard a female scream, and knew Kurenai was out. Shino looked in that direction and the bugs he had placed around the field came to him and told him what happened. Hinata was watching with her Byakugan, as was her cousin. Both knew of Kurenai's well earned reputation as a Genjutsu mistress, and were utterly shocked to see her defeated by her specialty. Hinata looked to the spot worried for her sensei. Neji retained his attitude as the village nihilist, and, in his uncaring tone, re-iterated what happened between the two.

"No way. Kurenai-sensei wouldn't lose to a kid like that! He wasn't even a shinobi before coming here!" Kiba said angrily, followed by Akamaru's bark.

"Kiba, that boy was and is a shinobi, whether or not he has a headband." The Hokage admonished.

Ino was busy wondering if this boy was stronger then Sasuke. He certainly looked as good, if not better. He was a little older, but that shouldn't be a problem, right? Sakura was still dead-set on the idea that Sasuke could kick this boy's ass, but she was impressed. TenTen admired any strong Kunoichi, and was upset that Kurenai was so easily beaten by a boy, no matter how strong. Lee was ranting about how large Kratos' fires of youth must be, while Neji was busy thinking about how fate smiled on this one.

Genma was watching the exchange as well, albeit from a lot closer, and was shocked that the boy had defeated the best Genjutsu user in Konoha using the art she practiced. He was trying to find a weakness he could use in conjunction with his current team, but so far he found none. 'The kid is probably pretty quick, but Gai should be able to keep up. I hope. Just to be safe, Gekko will attack with him (AN: That is Hayate's name right? He is one of the few I forget.). Kakashi and me will be wait set some traps up where they will fight, and then stand back and wait for the right moment to jump in.' He thought. Against any other opponent, this would have been a perfect strategy, and Genma would have been confident. But it relied on finding a weakness in the opponent, and Kratos so far hadn't shown any. He was clearly an exceptional Genjutsu user, and traps didn't seem to be a problem for him either. The gravity seals and weights made it clear that the kid had some real speed on his side, which meant his Taijutsu had to be chunin level at least, and if he was actually good at Taijutsu it would put him at Jounin level without doubt. The only real area of question was Kenjutsu, but Kakashi had said the kid took off a head with one swipe. That meant at least amateur skill, which, combined with speed, was more than enough against most ninja. Considering all this, Genma went off to warn his remaining team mates of his plan.

The four Jounin set it up immediately. Kakashi and Genma set up the best traps they knew, and made sure Gai and Gekko knew where they were, and every way to set them off. The finalized plan was to force Kratos into one of the traps. Immediately after completion of the trap field (they ran into plenty of Kratos' while setting it up), Kakashi and Genma left to hide nearby, and Kratos appeared to find Gai and Gekko already in stance, Gai in the Iron Fist stance and Gekko with his sword drawn and chakra charged.

"So who set off my traps? Well if it was one of you, good job avoiding the affects. So I have to fight both of you huh? Alright, this should be fun." Kratos said, smiling.

Gekko just coughed, but Gai had more emotional damages to Kratos' already blacked out memories from earlier. He slipped out of his fighting stance and into his nice guy pose. As his teeth sparkled, he somehow managed to speak without parting his teeth.

"DO NOT UNDERSTIMATE OUR FLAMES OF YOUTH! THEY WILL DEFEAT YOUR OWN, FOR I AM IN THE SPRINGTIME OF MY YOUTH!!" Gai yelled. Everyone heard it and shuddered except for Lee and Kratos. Lee yelled "OSSU!" while Kratos pulled some ear plugs out. He had come prepared for this.

"You say something?" Kratos said.

"YOU HAVE KAKASHI'S HIP ATTITUDE! DAMN YOU!" Gai yelled.

"I can't take much more of this…cough" Gekko said.

"I couldn't agree more. Less yelling, more fighting." Kratos said, smiling as he drew one of his swords. Kratos' eyes also started changing, though not to the rage crazed black, but rather to the misty grey. Gekko charged forward, while Gai used his inhuman speed to get behind Kratos. In Kratos' mind, he saw the attack. Gai with a roundhouse to the head, Gekko coming from the front with sword strikes aimed at the arm he saw himself throw up to grab the kick. Gai arrived first, opening up with a roundhouse kick aimed at Kratos' head. Even Kakashi would have been hard pressed to duck it with the sick swordsman closing in. Kratos ducked it and shot his free hand up, grabbing Gai's leg in the air. Gekko dove in with a series of sword strokes aimed at the outstretched arm, all of which were blocked by Kratos.

"Holy shit" was Kakashi could say to describe the feat. He had fought Gai many times and he knew that catching one of Gai's kicks when he wasn't wearing weights was damn near impossible. He was also good friends with Gekko, and had learned a lot of his swordsmanship from him. Gekko was using one of his best blades, two handed, and going all out with each stroke. That was enough to carve an ANBU blade into pieces, as well as whatever ANBU was holding it, and Kratos had deflected each stroke, one handed, while holding Gai's leg.

"Yeah…we should get in there." Genma said. Kakashi and Genma leapt into the fray.

"Four at once…I may need to turn them off completely." Kratos sighed, then disappeared. He showed up crouched against the side of a tree behind Gekko ready to pounce at the swordsman. He flew off the tree, drawing his other sword. Gekko brought up his sword, positioning it vertically in front of him in a defensive stance. Kratos began spinning. His spin got to the point where it consisted of a golden blur. As the whirlwind that was Kratos met with the Gekko's blade, sparks began flying and flashes began appearing on Gekko's katana.

"He's going to snap it!" Gekko realized. The katana flew apart, shattered. Gekko went flying, hit a tree, and fell down unconscious. Kratos came out of his spin, only to meet with Gai's fist coming at him. He dodged it.

"Katon: Goukyakyuu no jutsu." Kakashi called, sending a gigantic fireball right towards Kratos. This time, Kratos was screwed, Kakashi was sure. With the amount of chakra put into making that fireball big and fast, there was no hope of dodging.

"DAMN! SHIELD OF APOLLO!" Kratos cried. A golden aura surrounded him, and as the fireball impacted with it, a flash of pure light erupted from him. The ground underneath him was decimated, both from Kakashi and Kratos' techniques, leaving Kratos standing in a crater. Genma was underneath him. Apparently, he was going to use Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Decapitation Technique) right before Kakashi's fireball hit, but he didn't count on being blasted before he could get out of the way.

"Three down. Just you two left." Kratos said, before glowing purple, his seals reappearing then promptly disappearing. Gai was suddenly knocked to the left, then up, down, and every other possible way. Hundreds of hits landed on him, and not even Kakashi's Sharingan could see them.

'As fast as Arashi-sensei…" Kakashi thought. Gai slammed into a tree, went right through it and several others before finally coming through a halt. When Neji revealed this, Lee started crying, and was going to rush off to perform several million laps on one of his fists with extra weights on, but the Hokage and his team stopped him.

"And then there was one." Kratos said, reappearing right behind Kakashi. The final jounin leapt back. Deciding to not waste time, Kakashi instantly went into his stance for the Raikiri.

"So it's the copy nin's original technique. I will admit, even my speed would be hard pressed to dodge it without using life gates. But I happen to know two moves that will make yours quite useless." Kratos said. What he did next shocked everyone present, save Naruto, who was too much of a moron in terms of history to know what the significance of it was.

A flash of yellow light was all Kakashi saw before Kratos appeared behind him in another flash, this time not even moving. This was instantaneous. This was the Hiraishin no jutsu. And in his hands were two Rasengans, perfectly formed.

'SENSEI'S TECHNIQUES!!' Kakashi thought, shocked that the boy could know either of the deadly moves that earned the Yondaime his name on the battlefield.

"Surprised aren't you." Kratos said, "This fight is over. You guys did good though. I can see why you are considered Konoha's elite. You would all make damn good Myrmidons. When my team gets here, let me know if you want some training."

"Thanks for the offer; I might take you up on that. Just a question though, Gai and Gekko's attacks, they are nearly impossible to see even with my Sharingan. How did you follow them, much less react?"

"My eyes are eyes of true sight. The Sharingan, the Byakugan, they are both basically pathetic imitations. With my eye, at its lowest level, I have the abilities of both eyes highest forms, although they work in different ways. I don't exactly have the three jutsu of the Sharingan, but I have better skills than that. Anyway, my level of the Kekkai Genkai of my family doesn't just slow down my opponents moves. I really do see them before they happen, as well as what counter I should make." Kratos said.

"That is...incredible." Kakashi said in awe. He then started to walk back toward the Hokage, till the back of his vest was grabbed by Kratos.

"I feel like showing off some more to my new comrades." Kratos said smiling. Kakashi felt himself lifted into the air. He looked down, seeing the tops of trees under him.

"You can fly?!" Kakashi said, showing emotion yet again. He noticed his mask slip from the amount his jaw dropped, and quickly went back to being partially astonished instead of outright flabbergasted (AN: I love that word.)

"The way I learned, I wouldn't be here if I couldn't. It's not really all that hard or draining, but it is a pain in the ass to learn, and when I say pain, I mean a lot. I couldn't move for 3 months at one point."

"Can you teach that?" Kakashi asked.

"Sorry man, but the only human other then me who has that privilege is Naruto. And I can't teach it, it comes from my mother." Kratos said. When landed in front of the Genin and the Hokage, they all needed serious orthodontic work on their lower jaws. All of them save Naruto knew of the Fourth's legendary and supposedly unusable, to any but him at least, Hiraishin, as well as the Rasengan.

The Hokage pulled himself together, and announced his decision on the ranking. "You are above ANBU level…at least Special Jounin, probably Kage. I honestly can't decide, so I'm making a new rank. Like the ANBU rank, your unit will become a rank equal to special jounin. So Myrmidon Commander is rank now. You can assign whatever rank you feel best for your men. I do have a lot of questions for you. How in hell can you fly and how do you know the Rasengan and Hiraishin?"

"As for flying, I worked my ass off. The Rasengan, well, I meet a lot of powerful people in my line of work. Jiraiya-san was one. After a lot of convincing, he taught me the Rasengan. The Hiraishin was harder to come by." Kratos answered.

"But that technique was unusable by any but the Fourth!" Sakura said, showing off her historical knowledge.

"The Fourth or his family." Kratos said. The group again was hit by another surprise. Kakashi went wide eyed.

"You couldn't be, Arashi-sensei had one child, and it died at birth along with the mother." Kakashi said.

"I was born during the war, so Father sent me away with an old friend of Mother's. And clearly, Mother never died, that was a farce. She saw no reason to remain in Konoha without Father, so she went home."

"Oh…that still doesn't explain how you know the Hiraishin" Kakashi said, trying to find something else to grasp his mind around then the fact that he had a godson again.

"I am the son of the Yondaime!?" Naruto said, shocked.

"This is going to be very annoying to explain…" Kratos said. He was going to began, but an owl landed on the branch of a tree behind him, and, once again to the astonishment of everyone present, save Kratos, spoke.

"Then allow me to do so Kratos. I think I might explain it somewhat better." The owl said, transforming into a woman with the same misty gray eyes Kratos had during his fight. She wore an elaborate kimono with an owl on the back with gray feathers and eyes, and a spear grasped in its talons. "By the way, your lover, she misses you so she will be coming soon." The woman said.

"Mother!" Kratos said, smiling. He jumped to the woman and gave her a hug. "Arte-chan is coming? Sweet! I've been meaning to show her the bow I invented! Her brother and her will love it!"

'Mother? She can't be older then 20!' Each female present thought.

"I appreciate that you think me so young, but I am far older then you believe. I stopped counting after 20, 453." She said calmly.

"WHAT!" Each one yelled, the woman wondering how she knew what they thought.

"Naruto, may I present our mother, Pallas Athene, goddess of wisdom and war, daughter of Zeus." Kratos said.

The woman before them warped next Naruto and hugged him.

POST NOTES:

I love this chapter. It took a long time to write, but I think it came out well. I don't really know if you guys like Athena as Naruto and Kratos' mother, but it works for what I have planned, so I hope you like her. Arte-chan is going to show up next chapter, and I wonder how many know who it is. It isn't hard to figure it out. I would like to say that in my story, Apollo is not responsible for killing Achilles, he did not manipulate Paris' arrow, so there isn't any ill will between the family of Achilles and him. Arte-chan will be explained later. Those of you who already know who she is, you know why it needs explaining. The story will take care of the obvious issue. Please people, review and tell me what you thought.


	5. Chapter 4: Mothers, Lovers, and Sadists

Author's Notes:

I am still extremely happy with the number of reviews I have been getting for this. I really appreciate it. To those 29 people who have this one on their favorites, it means a lot to me. Anyway, this chapter is going to have a lot of training in it. Naruto is going to get a lot of help, and so is Kratos (as if I didn't make him strong enough, right?). He gets to learn about his bloodlines, and gets rid of an old problem. This should be my longest one yet. I have had a few questions as to when this story takes place, so I thought I would address those now. This fic takes place after Naruto's first C rank (which in my fic was not the Wave arc, put I decided to put Zabuza and Haku in this, they'll drop by later), and currently about a month before the chunin selection exam. I would also like to mention that I **update once a week** or try to. So know you don't need to ask me when the next one is coming. Ok now I have to announce who Naruto and Kratos are with, although in the case of the latter many of who have already guessed it. Naruto is pairing up with Aphrodite because Naruto's capacity to love is going to win her over. Cheesy, but valid considering her title. Adonis is going to piss her off, and Naruto does his nice, heroic ninja thing. I was going to put her in this chapter, but I thought it might be better to hold of on the visit to Mt. Olympus for a bit. Kratos is with Artemis, I'll explain their history a little later. Anyway, thanks to everyone who has been reviewing this story, I want to get more feedback so to those of who haven't, review.

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Chapter 4:

Mothers, Lovers, and Sadists

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Athena held her death-grip on Naruto for several minutes before letting go, crying. For a goddess, especially one associated with war, crying was not a common event. She looked at the boy, noticing the connection to her lover. 'He looks like you Arashi. Both of them rival that pretty boy as you called him…and they could wipe the floor with his arrogant ass.' She composed herself as quickly as she could, trying to maintain a somewhat regal appearance, noticing that the ninja present did not look particularly impressed.

"A goddess you say…incredible…it is an honor…Athene was it?"

"Yes. You can call me Athena though, formality isn't needed amongst familiars. I believe you are familiar me better in another form however." She said, before changing into a slightly shorter woman in an ANBU uniform with straight, deep brown hair, which was essentially the same as what she had shown previously. The Hokage went wide eyed along with several other jounin who had known the woman.

"So it's true…you are sensei's wife…" Kakashi started, "Naomi-san…I thought you were dead." Kakashi said.

"We all did. Why did you leave?" The Sandaime asked.

"I didn't have a reason to be here without Arashi. Besides, the only chance I had to stay with my husband was to return to my position as a goddess. Arashi was going to die if he called up Hades; he knew it, as did I. After my son died, I attempted to find him, first in the realm of the living utilizing my eyes, but the Kyuubi must have shrouded him. Apparently, I can't see that which has two life forces. So without any reason to remain, I left to find my other son, Kratos." Athena explained.

"But why didn't you stop the Kyuubi? And didn't you know of Arashi's plan to seal the Kyuubi, I assume he would have told his wife." Sandaime asked.

"I can't defeat Kyuubi in the mortal realm. Kyuubi is not a demon; he is a lesser Titan, a child of the most fearsome beings to ever walk this earth. The original Titans were all sealed away because like Gods they cannot be killed. A Titan of any level possesses monstrous power. My counterpart, Ares, could defeat one, since he is a god of war as well, however, his main field is combat, as well as…well I'll not get into that. I focus on ideologies of war, as well as strategy. My power is more then a match for a human, but a Titan would eliminate me. I could have easily called up Hades, or the Shinigami as you call him, except me and him were never on the best of terms. Hades is not omnipotent save for matters of death, so he had no knowledge of my union with Arashi, so Arashi was able to cut a deal with him in the form of the Shiki Fuujin. You know the story from there. As for why I didn't know that Arashi had done this is simple. I respect him too much to pry into his secrets. When Naruto was born, the nurse took him away quickly, saying that something was wrong. She came back later, saying that Naruto had died due to an irregularity. I detected no lie, and I couldn't see him; I suppose she must have given him to a superior, who in turn lied to her before giving Naruto to Arashi."

"I suppose that explains everything. I take it you aren't here to join the leaf again?" Kakashi asked. Athena reverted back to her goddess form (AN: Athena is not on the level of Zeus so her form does not cause the instant death of everyone who looks at her.) before answering.

"No, you have two people who are far more powerful then me. I came so that I might talk with my other son, Naruto." Athena said.

Everyone headed home after an extremely long day. Naruto was going to head towards his apartment, but Athena stopped him, saying that she thought it more fitting that he live in the house of his father. Upon arriving at the Kazama household, Naruto was awestruck. It was surrounded by a forest and had a large lake behind it. The compound was easily 50 acres, probably more. It made the Hyuuga mansion look like a compost pile.

"None but those whom the Kazama allow may enter here. You father didn't care for the size much, seeing as he was the last until you two came along. But I think it right that you should have it. Kratos, I think you will find the nearby clearing to be suitable for your forces. Come quickly, both of you, we have much to discuss." Athena said, warmly at first, but her last sentence had a serious inflection. Naruto and Kratos followed her inside, only to be astonished by the perfection of the inside. The entire building had an aesthetically pleasing water system running through it, from waterfall walls to miniature rivers on the floor. The floors were made up of polished oak in some places, tempura mats in others. The entered an incredibly grand room five stories tall. The wall opposite of the entrance had an incredible indoor waterfall, and an indoor lake. Throughout the area were small lanterns and pathways made of wooden bridges and benches. Bamboo thickets (small ones) were present along with other fabulous examples of natural splendor. The room was an indoor Japanese garden, and a fabulous one at that. The roof was made up of glass, and the sunlight filled the garden. Kratos and Naruto were both felt incredibly relaxed. "This room is the main room of the house. Hestia really did outdo herself, wonderful girl, and so humble. The entire building is designed to relax its residents. Kratos, you already know the reason for this I suspect. This is a good place to discuss matters of great importance, I think."

They sat by the indoor lake, which could apparently become a hot spring simply by willing a small amount of chakra into a seal located on a nearby rock. The waterfall was apparently controlled by a similar method. One could strengthen its flow or decrease it a serene trickle simply by pushing chakra into another seal on the same rock. Naruto was being uncharacteristically quite, Kratos noted.

Naruto sat down next to his Mother, who looked at him with sad eyes. "Naruto…your entire life is my fault. Now that I know what your father did, I suspect that you had a hard life. I want you to know that I can already tell you are much like him, despite your life. Please, forgive me my son." She said, her voice breaking up the entire way through. Naruto looked up at her, tears in both their eyes. He hugged her for the second time and spoke.

"I forgive you…Mom." He said, leaning his head against her.

"Thank you Naruto." Athena said, smiling. Kratos knew his brother would forgive their Mother, and simply sat and smiled as well, realizing that his Mother would finally be happy again.

Athena breathed deeply and began to speak seriously. "We have to discuss your lineage a little deeper. You see, the Kazama clan had an extremely powerful bloodline. It does not have a name. Any doctor can explain that in your bodies there are certain chemicals that are produced to create emotions. The Kazama clan passed down a gene from Achilles himself. This gene causes your brain to produce a new chemical. It reacts to other chemicals. Basically, when you feel extremely strong emotions, those chemicals are being massed produced. When enough build up, this chemical reacts, and causes your power to go into a state of overdrive. It dwarfs the power of releasing the eight gates because of its varying effects. Kratos, do you think you could demonstrate it?"

"Already have…" he said, sounding a little worried.

"What happened?" Athena said, sounding angry.

"The Hokage explained what happened to Naruto…how these people treat him. I couldn't control the rage I felt. You know how I struggled to gain my humanity back from the incident when I unlocked the bloodline. The fact that these people would act in this way reminded me so much of that….I almost lost control again." Kratos looked like he was on the verge of crying.

"I understand, that is a painful memory for you. The people of this village are misguided you see. Their memory of the fox causes them to react in the same way your memories cause you to react to that kind of behavior. I think if Naruto can forgive them for this fault, then it is not so above us to do the same. Naruto, the power you felt from Kratos in that instance is something beyond rage, above hatred. I have no name for the affect, but I can explain what it does. In a normal human, it's essentially an advanced form of adrenaline. In you and Kratos however, it is something far more powerful. It affects you on every level. While the normal human body has limits, your body does not, save that of mortality. You can gain certain the abilities of a god. What the chemical does is supercharge your chakra, your muscles, your speed, reaction time, etc. You become a perfect weapon. However, you are also overcome by whatever emotion activates it, at least until you learn to control it. Kratos, show your brother please." Athena said. Kratos instantly began his transformation again. His hair turned red, his eyes black.

"When I activate this, it either means I am doing it out of will or I am really pissed off. In the case of the former, I still need to fight back the emotion. I can force my body to activate the chemical without the need for an emotion via chakra, however, once I do, the chemical that originally activates whatever emotion I tap into starts mass producing. You can only do this after entering this state the natural way." Kratos said, then reverted back to normal. Naruto was paying attention, and while he did not understand the technical elements of it, he got the gist.

"Okay so if I get really tweaked, I go psycho and become superhuman 'cause I'm a demi-god. If I do this once, I can use chakra do it in a controlled way. That it?" Naruto said eager to try and get this bloodline working.

"For that skill, yes. You also have another bloodline, one that we can unlock right now." Athena said. She placed her hand over Naruto's eyes, and when she drew it back, Naruto's eyes appeared the same, but he could feel a distinct tingle in them.

"What is that feeling…" Naruto started to ask.

"Your eyes are trying to draw chakra. Let them have it, don't worry about frying your retinas. While you draw chakra to your eyes, I want you to focus on something. I want you to look at my hand Naruto, and focus on where it will go. Tell me when you see it move." Athena said. Naruto began to look at her hand intently. He just kept staring, and at first, thoughts littered his mind about possibilities as to where she might move her hand. Gradually though, he stopped thinking, he just stared at her hand. Then he saw, within his mind, an image of Athena throwing a punch at his chest. He instinctively moved his hand there.

"What…you didn't punch me?" Naruto asked, confused.

"No." Athena said, looking pleased.

"So what in hell did I see you do."

"You didn't see Mom do anything Naruto. You saw what she was going to do." Kratos said. Naruto looked ecstatic.

"Damn…that is kick ass. What kind of technique was that?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, look at your reflection in the lake." Athena suggested.

"Err...okay..." Naruto said, then got up and looked. He saw himself staring back, but instead of radiant blue eyes he met with misty gray ones. "A Doujutsu?! SWEET!"

"My…energetic…" Athena said, chuckling.

"A lot like you, eh Kratos?" A voice spoke. A silver wolf appeared and began walking toward Kratos before nuzzling its head against his leg.

"Arte-chan!" He said happily, but whispered to her "seriously, don't mention that in front of mother...it was embarrassing enough when she found us making out."

"Good point." The wolf said, before turning into a woman who looked about sixteen. She had silver, slightly curly hair. Her body was one that men dream of. Naruto saw her and thought 'Are all goddesses so damn perfect?' She had what looked like a leather hunting outfit on her, with a wolf emblazoned on the back. She had a silver bow strung on her back. She also had a somewhat ethereal glow to her, as though moonlight radiated from her. She looked towards Naruto, and took quick note of his stare.

"What are you staring at?" She asked sweetly. Naruto started sweating; trying to come up with a halfway decent excuse other then saying he was staring at her body. In his experience, complementing women on their bodies equated to beatings.

"Uuh…that glow…what exactly is it?" Naruto asked.

"Kratos, you didn't tell your brother about me? I'm hurt." The girl said, faking a hurt look. "Kid, I'm called Artemis, goddess of the Moon and of the hunt!" She said ecstatically.

"Artemis, good to see you out of your grotto. I was afraid you would castrate Hermes for entering to give you my message. How is your brother?"

"Good. By the way Kratos, I spoke with him about umm…us." Artemis said. Kratos paled at this, recalling what happened to the last person Artemis showed affection toward. "He took it rather well. He's not going to kill you. I think it's because you earned his respect with that instrument of yours. That and you're the only one to match him and me with a bow." Kratos breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he would not share the fate of Orion.

"Thank the Gods I'm going to live…" he said.

"Your welcome sweety." Artemis said. "By the way, nice place. Hestia told me she worked on it; I didn't think she did this good. Mind if I stay here too?"

"If Mom's okay with me living with my girlfriend, hell yeah!" Kratos said happily.

"Sure, you're not a kid anymore, and I don't have the right to boss Artemis around. Don't blame me when Apollo try's to skewer though. This reminds me, you both need to explain why Artemis was in your bed awhile back." Athena said, smiling. Like any mother, there was nothing she loved more then embarrassing her children."Umm…" The two said in unison, trying to think up a way out of their situation. Naruto ended up saving both their asses.

"Yo, what about the kid here?! I need to know how to turn these eyes off Doujutsu drain chakra fast and I don't want to be exhausted!" He said.

"Naruto, you have more then enough. Besides, you get your chakra back almost as soon as you lose it. Still, you turn it off by retracting chakra from your eyes, and re-activate it the same way. Kratos will teach more about the eye tomorrow." She said. "Now Naruto, in order for your training to begin, we have to deal with the problem that prevented me from caring for you my whole life. We are going to remove the Kyuubi from you." Naruto was about to protest, although he did want the fox out of him, he couldn't just let the creature that destroyed Konoha free. His mother continued on, however, Kyuubi did not willingly attack Konoha. He was pushed into it by a force he couldn't resist. Let's talk to him. Naruto, I'm going to knock you out. Kratos and I will enter your mind. Artemis, you can come too, you really should pay your respects to the cleverest animal on Earth. He was your old playmate after all."

"Whoa, wait, the chibi-fox is in Naruto? What did I miss?" Artemis said, surprised. Everyone sweat dropped.

"You really need to leave that grotto more. I'm glad you're staying with me now." Kratos said.

Athena then knocked Naruto out with a touch to a pressure point on his neck. Kyuubi drew Naruto into the usual place, and Kratos, Artemis, and Athena followed suit.

"Your mind looks like a sewer. You don't redecorate much huh?" Kratos said, looking around as he walked down the hall.

"Redecorate?" Naruto asked.

"Your mind, your world. You make it look like what you want." Kratos said.

"Really? Sick, I gotta try that." Naruto said.

"Don't do it just yet. We are about to remove an important part of your mind as it is." Athena said. The group walked on, eventually reaching the gigantic cage that housed the great Kyuubi no Kitsune.

**"Kit and his family…that you Artemis?" **Kyuubi asked.

"Yeah…you've gotten bigger since the last time we played." Artemis said. "So who got to you? Even if you're related to the Titans, you aren't the violent type."

"Ares did. My sick counterpart temporarily warped your mind and caused you to simply shed blood. But as to why, not even I can know this." Athena said.

"It's because he's a sick, psychotic, bastard. Why else?" Kratos said.

"True enough, but he never acts without a goal." Athena said.

**"Athena, you know too damn much. Yeah, Ares managed to mess with my mind, and I went berserk. Something told me to rip this village to shreds, so off I went. When I got separated from my body, whatever Ares did went away."**

"Is that why you helped me fur ball?" Naruto said. Artemis started laughing her head off.

**"Don't call me that damnit! And no, it isn't. When I saw you dreaming about Achilles, that's when I decided to stop tormenting you. Because Achilles, I owe him. He was the one who raised me, and the one who stopped the Gods from sealing me with the others when they found out I was a Titan. Most of us are blood thirsty savages, like that damned Tanuki. He saved me from becoming like that, and from the Gods instant urge to seal me. I guess I kind of look at him like a father. If you're related to him, my debt to him carries over to you."** Kyuubi said.

"Yeah, that was way back. You were so cute. I really didn't get why Hades wanted you sealed away in that hell pit. Then again, that cranky spook wants anything that doesn't die behind his bars and under his control, like the Fate sisters." Artemis chirped.

"Kyuubi, we are going to release you. However, to prevent Ares from repeating his sins, we are giving you a much smaller body. You see, Naruto's bloodline is actually being hindered by you inadvertently. No offense to your power, but his ability makes leeching off of a Titan look like a joke."

**"Freedom?! WOO! I don't suppose apologizing to the village would help much…but if I can I will."** Kyuubi said.

"Not to worry fox. I think I have a plan. Risky though." Kratos said. "I'll explain later."

"**Okay. You two, Kit and Naruto, I am indebted to you, so I am going to give you a contract for my species. Lesser Titans double as animal gods you could say, so naturally we hold the contracts for them. I'll teach some damn cool techniques. Now let me out of here!"** Kyuubi roared.

Athena walked over to the seal on the cage, and placed both of her hands on it. She began to concentrate, and the seal started to dissolve, reappearing on her. Kratos looked on in amazement, along with Artemis. What Athena was doing was extremely risky. Straight out removing the Kyuubi from Naruto would kill him, so she seemed to be using her body as a medium for the transfer, seeing as it wouldn't kill her. This could potentially leave her unable to move for weeks, seeing as absorbing the massive amount of chakra would put an immense strain on even her body. The cage opened and the Kyuubi's form mixed with Naruto's mental image of Athena.

"Done." She said, before the group left Naruto's mind. When they re-awoke back in the real world, Athena went into her own mind and simply edited the seal, then placed it on the Kyuubi. A large fox that could easily carry three people appeared. It had auburn red fur and nine tails.

"YES! I'm free! Finally! Meh…I'm smaller, but I can live with this." Kyuubi said.

"Training starts tomorrow, if that's alright with you Kratos." Athena said.

"Sure…who's making coffee tomorrow morning?" Kratos asked. Artemis and Athena sweat dropped.

"I'll make it…freaking addict." Artemis said with a sigh.

"Ok then. Naruto, 0800 hours, boot camp starts." Kratos said with a psychotic grin.

"Cool." Naruto said, before falling asleep in his mother's lap.

"Heh, little bro's not a night person. I'll be on the roof if you need me." Kratos said. Athena sighed at this, knowing that's where he always went. She gave Artemis a map of the house, and told her which room she and Kratos had before going to her own.

* * *

On the roof of the Kazama household, Kratos was staring at the stars, mapping out the visible constellations. 'What happens if I lose control again…I won't go back to being his monster…I can't…what would all of you do…' He said, asking the various habitants of the stars. He looked to Ursa Major, then Minor, to each of the astrological signs that adorned the clear sky. Artemis hopped onto the roof, looking at the boy.

"You still are afraid aren't you…?" She said.

"Yeah…I almost lost myself again. When I heard about how sick these people treated my brother…if anyone would do something like that to a mere child, they are less human then the 'demon' they hate. All it takes is a few wrong words and I go psycho. I already have to deal with the first time it happened. My humanity has enough scars on it." Kratos said.

"What did your mother say; I'm sure you told her about the nightmares?" Artemis asked.

"She told me that 'the past is done with, and the stars will show you your future. Look to them, and find peace. You already found your humanity again, all you need is to forgive yourself' but how can I do that when all those souls…they must all hate me. And when I go down, I'll have to face them…all of them. My name…it means power…but I have no idea what I am supposed to do with it. Every time…I keep remembering him, laughing at me."

"You know…I remember how Apollo felt after…Orion…and Scorpio. He would stare at them every night, a lot like you do. He was worried I would never forgive him, and I wasn't going to. That is, until Hades showed up on Olympus with an arm severed off. Orion wanted to give me a message; he wanted me to forgive my brother. I think in death most souls lose the need for anger and hatred. I'm sure a fair few will still hold a vendetta, but those are the ones that deserved death." Artemis said. After that, they both just stared at the moon. It was a full moon, and like so many autumn moons, it looked so much larger then any other time of year.

"Nice work on that one." Kratos said. "C'mon…let's go to sleep."

"Yeah…" Artemis replied.

* * *

Most of the residents of the Kazama household had peaceful dreams. Naruto of ramen, Kyuubi of the days when he was still a kit, and Achilles took him to meet Artemis. Artemis dreamt of the day she met Kratos. Athena and Kratos however, had disturbing dreams. In the case of Athena, she saw a snake underneath a pair of blood soaked axes. They were bathed in green fire, a fire she recognized as the flame of the underworld. But behind all this were several gargantuan shadows. One reached out towards her, but a blood-red hawk attacked its arm. The hawk looked toward her, then exploded in golden light, engulfing all the figures she saw and herself. She awoke, sweating. 'A vision?' was her last thought before drifting into another, much more peaceful sleep.

Kratos' dream lasted the entire night. Flashes of himself, covered in blood, a large figure behind him, laughing. He saw himself in a village, slaughtering everything in sight. It wasn't just the shinobi he killed, it was everything. And he was enjoying it. Slowly, his body changed into the figure behind him. He turned around and killed it, and found himself sitting on a throne. A throne made up of blood and human skin.

* * *

At 7:00 the next morning Kratos woke up sweating and with a mammoth head-ache. Artemis, who had been using Kratos' chest as a pillow, let out a murmur about not wanting to get up. She opened her eyes, meeting with Kratos' squinted ones.

"You sweat a lot." She said, getting up. "Coffee, right?" A moan from Kratos was the only response she got. She checked the map and went off to the kitchen. When she came back, she had to cups of steaming hot coffee. Kratos yanked his right out of her hands and chugged the entire thing.

"You really shouldn't eat the cup too…" She said.

"All caffeine must be absorbed. Now I really need a shower." Kratos said.

"Nu-uh. The bathroom that's connected to the room has a nice big bathtub. I'll get the water going." She said smiling. "I think I can take your mind off things." She said, flashing a devilish smile.

"Meh, whatever…" Kratos said, still in his sleepy haze. Then the caffeine kicked in. His energy sky rocketed, his head-ache disappeared, and he realized what she meant. "Whoa! Hold on! I gotta train nii-chan!" He called after her.

"Your point? Your not getting out of this. What's wrong with you anyway, I thought human men kept one thing on their minds. Hell even the God's have one thing on their minds. What are you, gay?" She said, knowing that would get him to comply. Kratos flinched at her words.

"Gay, me? I'll show you otherwise." He said, following her into the bathroom.

Later, after their bath, Kratos and Artemis went to wake up Naruto, who was busy gorging himself on ramen. Pulling him away from his bowl, they went outside to the training compound. Artemis went to go and get some supplies out of the equipment room.

"Okay little bro, training starts now. Your schedule is on this scroll. I already had it approved by the Hokage, Kakashi knows about it. You are really going to need this for what he has in store for you and your team. Damn I wish I could tell you." Kratos said. Naruto opened up the scroll, read it, and went wide eyed. The scroll read as follows:

* * *

SCHEDULE

8:00 – 9:00 – Laps around Konoha

9:00 – 12:00 – Chakra control

12:00 – 2:00 – Strategy

2:00 – 2:30 – Lunch

2:30 – 6:00 – Taijutsu

6:00 – 6:30 – Dinner

6:30 – 8:00 – Ninjutsu

8:00 – 10:00 – Weapons

10:00 – 11:00 – Bloodline Training

11:00 – 12:00 – Further education (history, theory, physics, etc.)

12:00 – 1:00 - Traps

* * *

"Are you…insane…" Naruto said. This was the most intense schedule he had ever seen.

"Hell man, if you think the schedule is rough, you should see the techniques. But my training methods will give you my level of skill in under a decade. Hell, when we get you to Olympus it will take no time at all! Same Jiraiya ain't here. He'd be helpful. Ah well. Just so you know, every exercise I give you will be completed. I don't care if you need to stay up all night to finish the training. I have three weeks to get you ready, and in that time, you are going to become damn powerful." Kratos said. "Now, I know you have a meeting at 12:00, but Kakashi ain't getting there till 2 anyway, right? My intel on him says his chronically late. So you'll have lunch around then." Kratos said, as Artemis walked over, struggling with an extremely heavy box.

"Here….got…the…stuff…" she said, handing the box to Kratos, who held it with one hand. He set it down, opened it up, and took out two black ankle bands and two matching wrist bands. He put some of his chakra into them, then put them on Naruto. Naruto promptly collapsed.

"What….what are these things?!" He said, struggling to get up.

"Chakra weights. Based on how much chakra is in them, the weight goes up. Those are special though. They will draw on your chakra as your body adjusts, making the weight gradually increase. Right now they are at…about 150 each." Kratos said, as Naruto finally got up. "I'll also put gravity seals on you. The weights you can take off during fights only, but the gravity seals NEVER come off unless I or Kakashi tell you too, understood? That, and if you are in a situation where victory requires it. Now lie down, and take off your shirt." Kratos continued. Naruto did as he was told, and Kratos took out a senbon needle, which he pricked himself with. He started drawing seals all over Naruto's back, arms, and chest. This should have taken hours, but Kratos disengaged his own seals and weights, allowing him to move extremely fast, completing the complex seals in about half an hour. He pushed chakra into them, and the seals started to spread, covering Naruto everywhere that Kratos didn't draw seals.

"Whoa…so how do turn these things on?" Naruto said. Kratos showed Naruto the activation seal, and Naruto copied it, and activated his seals, once again falling to the floor. "More weight?! I'm being crushed to death!" Naruto said.

"No you're not. Get up. All it did was multiply the effect of gravity on you. As you adjust to the effect, the gravity on you will increase. Right now, you are at a factor of X2 gravity." Kratos said. Naruto struggled, but finally got up, out of breathe from the combination of weights and gravity.

"So what are you at?" Naruto asked, gasping between words.

"X50." Kratos said, while Naruto's jaw dropped. "Not that it matters. I want 100 laps around Konoha. Artemis, sick a wolf on him to make sure he runs the whole way."

"Wait, what?!" Naruto said.

"Let's see... oh he's a fast one. Lotho!" Artemis called. A gray wolf materialized next to her. "On my command. If you catch him, don't kill him." The wolf growled its agreement. "Start running kid. Lotho, tear him a new asshole." She said with a grin. Naruto ran slow at first and suffered a few nips, but after awhile he stopped noticing the weight. He was forced to do extreme tree-climbing, which was extremely hard because Kratos covered the tree in shuriken and slicked it with oil. With Naruto's weights it was almost impossible. When he managed to get past this, he would have to do water-walking, which Naruto was dreading. He was sure Kratos would fill the body of water with piranha or sharks. Strategy was, oddly enough, something Naruto showed some aptitude for. Sure, he sucked at it for the time being, but once he started thinking, he started beating each exercise. By lunch, Naruto was dead tired from the mental and physical exhaustion. When he showed up to the meeting, he actually arrived after Kakashi.

"Umm, I crossed a black cat. Your excuse?" Kakashi asked.

"WHERE IN HELL WERE YOU BAKA!?" Sakura yelled.

"Dobe…what the hell happened to you…" Sasuke said. Naruto looked up at them, his eyes bloodshot.

"Sadistic…bastards…need…to…eat…" Naruto gasped out. He pulled out a thermos which was apparently filled with some special concoction that was the invention of one of the more innovative Myrmidons. According to Kratos, it would completely replenish Naruto's energy, it was extremely healthy, and could keep him running for some time. He neglected to mention that it tasted god awful. Naruto gagged on each bite, but swallowed.

"Right…anyway guys this meeting is pretty important. No mission, no training. I just need to tell you that you, along with the other rookies, are nominated for the Chunin Selection Exam. It's pretty intense, shinobi from every village are going to be there. It isn't an easy test. You have four weeks. I recommend you train for three, and rest for the last one, or use that one to brush up on strategy against your possible opponents. You each have the choice to take the exam, so think on it. That's all. Oh, Naruto, you're exempt from meetings unless I say otherwise. Your brother must be running you into the ground." Kakashi said.

"WHAT! The dobe get's to train with him! He doesn't deserve it, he's not strong enough. I need that strength to kill him damned it!" Sasuke spat out.

"Yeah, why does Naruto-baka get to train with him? I know he's his brother and all but seriously that's kind of unfair. Naruto, I think you should convince your brother to let Sasuke-kun train with you, since he is way stronger, and would learn more." Sakura said.

"You know what…I use to like you…then I saw bro and his girlfriend and you know what? I realized you're a god damn bitch. Go screw yourself and your precious Sasuke-kun while you're at it, if he isn't gay that is." Naruto said. He was tired, run ragged, and eating the most disgusting thing ever made by man. Simply put, he was not a person to mess with.

"That's a little harsh. Sasuke, you're with me. I'll train you. Naruto, you have about 10 minutes to finish eating. I suggest you make use of that time." Kakashi said.

Meanwhile, outside of Konoha, a large group of cloaked figures moved through the neighboring forest. Each one moved quietly, without making a sound, and leaving no traces that they were ever there. They were like ghosts, haunting the trees. It seemed as though they didn't breathe. Even a jounin could have stood right next to them, and would never know they were there.

Naruto made his way back to his torturous brother. His brother tossed a scroll at him and told him to start reading. It had to do with the family Taijutsu. It rivaled the Heavenly fist of the Hyuuga clan. From Naruto could tell, it made use of the All-seeing eye to predict one's opponent's moves, and strike at the weakness created during their movements. Its hits were full-force blows to any area, vital organs, muscles, and point. It actually combined several styles, and allowed for an incredible amount of adaptations. What truly made it deadly was that at each hit, not only did you enforce your muscles and bones with chakra, you created a multi-needle stab of chakra into the body. It could be as precise as the Heavenly fist, or simply blow holes through them. Kratos demonstrated once by sealing a few tenketsu on Naruto, and then displayed what a less imprecise strike could do. The end result was a rock blasted to pieces. Naruto began learning how to use his bloodline to see into a person's body, and to better read their movements. He was a quick study in that area, and improved greatly in a short time. His earlier exercise in chakra control had already granted him a significant boost in control, so he was able to master the basics of blasting chakra out of one's hands, and fortifying body parts with it. Any other person would have required perfect control, but in Naruto's case, demi-god attributes made his system larger and capable of handling imprecision to a certain degree, since his body automatically utilized some wasted chakra. Then they spared, and Naruto got his ass kicked. He was slower, less proficient with the style, and lacked the same experience.

Dinner was actually pleasant. Naruto was awarded ramen with his nice work, which contained extract from the goop that was served for lunch. Surprisingly it worked well with miso ramen, so Naruto ate eight times as much. Kratos had the same, minus the energy additive. Instead of that, he had a cup of coffee, which had several shots of espresso in it. Actually it was more like a jug of it but no need to be technical. As the two ate, Kratos began to tell Naruto what his major flaws were.

"Well, you definitely need to work on your control. Your speed is automatically being amped up. You seem to pick up the style's movement well enough, and you adapt and improvise excellently. And you can already take one hell of a beating, I can't wait to see what you can take and dish by the exam. That concoction you're taking, it makes your body more susceptible to change. Every injury becomes a hardened point, your brain absorbs information better, and you remember what I do and say. It's almost as good as caffeine for supplying you with energy." He said, smiling.

Behind the two brothers, both of whom were thoroughly enjoying their meal at Ichiraku, an ANBU approached.

"What do you want ANBU-san?" Kratos asked, not even bothering to look up.

"The Hokage requests your immediate presence." The ANBU replied. "He told me to tell you that your 'friends' are here…you know what he means?" Kratos' face lit up.

"Naruto, come with me. You are about to meet the strongest men alive." Kratos said.

When they arrived at the Hokage's office, four other people were waiting. They kneeled in front of Kratos, who simply sighed.

"Guys, I told you not to do that…I hate that formal bull. It's impractical." Kratos said. The figures took down their cloaks. The one on the far left had a psychotic grin, spiky black hair, and was tall and lanky. He looked pretty scrawny. The next one in the line was a big guy, putting it lightly. He stood at almost 7'6", and was ripped. He was clearly the tank. An extremely large blade was strapped to his back. Following him was a man wearing a white cloak, in his hands was a stack of files. Next was a standard size guy with a cigar in his mouth. He had a pair of glasses, and looked capable in combat, but definitely wasn't a key fighter. His face had a look of thoughtfulness on it. He got up, motioning for the others to do the same.

"Sorry, Kratos-sama. We wished to show a fair amount of respect in front of the leader of our hosts." The psychotic one said.

"Whatever. Guys, say hello to my brother, Naruto. Naruto, these guys are my elites. The psycho's name is Seth, he's our interrogator and our best spy. The hulk is Taurus, named after the bull. You can see why. He took that sword from one of the swordsman of the mist. He's our combat specialist, and my sparring partner. The guy with the files is our best medic, his name is Ophelos. Finally, we have our strategist. His name is Stratos. Guys got an IQ around 250. He has a bloodline that allows him to utilize about 40 percent of his brain, while most of us only use 10 percent." Kratos said. Each member gave a small greeting to Naruto, referring to him with the

–sama usually reserved for officials of great importance.

"Hi, you guys must be pretty tough. Maybe you could teach me a thing or two?" Naruto said.

"Oh they will be assisting me." Kratos said. Naruto inwardly cried, he was hoping to get a teacher who wasn't planning on bringing him to near death on a daily basis.

"Well, if I may speak…" the Sandaime spoke up "I can assume then, that these are, in fact, your elites? Odd names… I guess the Myrmidons are here then. I'll have an ANBU open the gates."

"Guys, I want you to direct them to a clearing in the forest on the south east side of Konoha. I marked it with the usual tracker." Kratos said, and then turned to Ophelos. "Doc, give the Hokage the personnel files, he'll need the copies. Remember, you're still in charge, and I intend to have a special facility but the hospital may require your assistance, and we may need theirs, so they will need updated records. Go head over to the hospital, and determine the effectiveness of their staff Stratos, look into these contingency plans I drew up for various attack scenarios, and make sure they are as full-proof as possible. Taurus, get the men over to that clearing and have them start building our new base according to these plans." Kratos said, handing out said documents to their respective recipients.

"Sir!" They each cried before using the Shunshin no jutsu, and attending to their given tasks. Kratos and Naruto returned to training, and by 1:00 Naruto felt as though he was going to fall apart. Kratos allowed him to remove the weights for a shower, but not the seals. Then the two went to bed, Kratos wondering what kind of coffee he would have the next day, and Naruto hoping he would survive till the exams. Kratos ended up having to carry Naruto into his bed, and wished him a good night's rest.

"Hey bro…good night man. And by the way, you're the best student I've had yet. You improved a lot for one day. By the time of the Chunin exams, you'll be more then ready to kick the shit out of anybody. Who knows, maybe you can sign on as one of mine. I'd like that." He said, smiling. Naruto smiled back before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

POST NOTES:

Next chapter is the first exam. I would go into more detail as to the training but I'll cover it next chapter. By the way, the names of the four elites, they were all Greek names. I didn't bother with last names, I'll explain that later. I did it for a reason. So what did we learn this chapter? Bloodlines, Kratos has a few skeletons, Kyuubi ain't all that bad, and Kratos is a sadist. Hope you enjoyed it, please read and review!


	6. Chapter 5: The Exams Part 1

Author's Notes:

First off, I want to thank **Lord isacc** for his translation of the original jutsu in Chapter 3, 9th Level of Hell no jutsu, which has been changed to Magen: Jin Dansa Ikijigoku no Jutsu. Second, I want to comment on a review left by **Bootheghost**. He noted that Athena is, according to Greek mythology, a virgin goddess. This is true. However, one should consider that while this was true during the era of the Greek's, this story takes place a good deal of time after the era of the Greeks. This, and the fact that the Greek Gods are far more human than the God of modern religions, makes it entirely plausible that Athena gave up her title as a virgin goddess; much like Hestia (goddess of the Hearth) gave up her position as an Olympiad. I just wanted to clear up my reasoning to any of you who read that review. Right so the next thing is that I am going to explain is exactly where we are at in this chapter. This chapter starts two days before the exam. I would like to mark a momentous occasion. This story has achieved over 50 reviews!! And I would like to say that almost all were either just a nice, positive review, or extremely helpful. I even made it onto 11 C2's as of right now, so I am really happy with that. To reward you kind readers, I am going to make an effort to increase my update rate. I will continue to do this (within reason…) depending on how many reviews I get, because your reviews let me right better and help me focus on the story every day. And so, here we have Chapter 5 of Heirs of the Warrior, enjoy, and please, continue to review my work!

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Chapter 5:

The Exams

* * *

At the beginning of Naruto's four week training session, Naruto had thought Kratos to be a sadist. Now, two days before the first exam, he was positive that Kratos was not only the second most sadistic person on the planet, he also attracted sadists. Every exercise thrown at him came with several motivations. The first of these was that they were Kratos' personal routine, and would without doubt make him incredibly powerful. The second was that if he did well, it was ramen for dinner. The third, and probably most compelling, was that if he failed or lapsed even slightly in an exercise, it led to him being mutilated in some way, shape, or form. 

Kratos had personally trained Naruto the entire way, relying on his elites and Artemis only for assistance. As training went on, Naruto had more put into his schedule, as he began to get through certain exercises quicker. He had taken on Stealth and Assassination training, Torture and Interrogation, Technique Invention, as well as beginning to learn how to perform techniques without any signs of doing so whatsoever, although that would take much more time to learn. Naruto got to know all of his trainers extremely well.

Seth was the only person Naruto could consider more sadistic then Kratos, but that's because Seth was a genuine psychopath. His teeth itched all the time, at least in his warped mind, and he constantly had hallucinations. He knew everything there was to know about hurting people. This was not, however, the only talent he had. If Seth did not want to be seen, he was undetectable. He could come of nowhere, and do so without making a sound. Had he wanted to be a serial killer, he would have raised some serious hell. Fortunately he only liked torturing and killing those who deserved it, although in his mind, quite a few people did. The only reason half of Konoha wasn't in body chains in his "lab" as he called it was because Kratos stopped him. Surprisingly, he was an excellent fighter despite his scrawny build. He seemed to be able to curve his body in anyway, making use of that build as a weapon. He was almost impossible to hit. Kratos revealed that it was just a style that Seth's body let him make more use of. The creepy thing was he seemed to be able to extend his body. When Naruto asked Kratos about this, he simply responded, "Hell if I know how he does it. Creepy ain't it?" When Naruto asked Seth, he simply shrugged and said, "Never thought about it before…" Seth was a harsh teacher, and Naruto's loud nature earned him several painful memories, but he eventually learned.

Of the elites, Taurus was Naruto's favorite. He was tough as nails, and extremely strong. Apparently, he was distantly related to the God Hercules (AN: Just so all of you know, Hercules did actually become a God after his death. Disney actually got something right), whom Naruto had learned all about in history lessons from his mother, which he detested. Taurus was Kratos' sparring partner because he was the only one who could take the hits. His helped teach Naruto weapons, and gave Naruto strength training. Under him, Naruto learned special muscle development tricks, along with several really powerful fighting styles that focused on basically breaking or dismembering one's opponent in almost anyway possible, such as Iron Fist, Raging Bull, and Berserker. He had a pretty care-free attitude, but was a "straight to business" guy when it came to training. Naruto had watched Kratos and Taurus spar, and both were incredible. Kratos was clearly better, but considering the level of skill both had, Taurus did well, actually managing to hurt Kratos despite his incredibly hard skin.

Stratos was a thinker, obviously. He was the most logical person Naruto knew. However, he had no emotional side to speak of. He wasn't broody or cold, he just always looked very thoughtful. He had taken one day to further analyze the weaknesses of Konoha, and gave Kratos an extremely detailed report. He taught Naruto many strategy games, which Naruto performed horrendously at, at first. However, after about two weeks, Naruto began to draw connections between moves; he started to pick up on the rudiments of logical thought processes. He still needed severe improvement in this area, but if he had to match his skills against anyone with a normal IQ, that unfortunate person would be crushed. Kratos decided to give Naruto an IQ test after seeing his performance, and it found it to be surprisingly high, approximately 173. Naruto didn't care much for Stratos, but he admitted that what Stratos lacked in emotion he more then made up for with his incredible strategies.

Ophelos was an incredible doctor, to say the least. He taught Naruto everything there was to know about Human Anatomy and Biology. Naruto was atrocious at Medical Ninjutsu, mostly because his control was horrible. Ophelos and Kratos corrected that extremely quickly however. Naruto was not on the level of a medic shinobi, but he could heal most surface wounds without much difficulty. The doctor also taught Naruto nutrition. It was he who invented the compound that Naruto was forced to ingest so his body would adapt more quickly, and he made sure Naruto at least **knew** how to be healthy, whether or not he ate right. It was through the doctor that Naruto learned of his elder brother's severe addiction to caffeine. That, and the fact that on one morning when he didn't have any coffee, he forced Naruto to water walk up a waterfall. If Naruto fell, the pool at the bottom held multitudes of extremely hungry piranha. Ophelos was fairly certain he had never healed so many puncture wounds at once.

Artemis was known as the hunter for a reason. In the forest, in the field, in a lake, wherever Naruto tried to hide, she found him. She taught him evasion, tracking, traps, and instructed him in the art of the bow and arrow. She was like most women Naruto knew. She was very sweet, kind, and gentle for the most part. Piss her off in anyway and you were royally screwed. A normal woman you could get away from. In the case of a goddess, one has no hope, and if that goddess if is a goddess of the hunt, then you are really, truly, royally screwed. She was, however, a very good teacher, and she and Seth managed to at the very least get Naruto to behave like a ninja when he chose to.

Naruto's mother was his teacher in history, as well as his eyes. She taught him everything there was to know about each Olympian, and a lot about the lesser gods. Ares, the god of war, made Naruto's hit list pretty quick when it was mentioned that he reveled in blood shed, and often arranged for human massacres to provide his halls with more blood. The other god Naruto had a problem with was Adonis. From what he could tell, he was just a narcissistic pretty boy. Athena also helped teach Naruto strategy, but in her case, she focused on the strategy that should be applied in one on one combat, while Stratos taught him group tactics.

Of all his teachers, it was Kratos that Naruto learned the most from. He was a veritable library of jutsu, and had no qualms about teaching Naruto anything he could. He couldn't teach the Rasengan or Hiraishin, since he wanted Naruto to be taught be Jiraiya for the former, and wanted to save the latter until Naruto had mastered several other techniques. He did, however, instruct Naruto in four hand seals that only Gods and demi-Gods could use, and they held incredible power. These were the four elemental seals of Water, Fire, Earth, and Wind. Using these, a person could gain temporary control over an element. Kratos revealed that since meeting Naruto, he had been working on a technique that would allow him to utilize more then one of the seals at a time, but it was still in the works. Kratos also honed Naruto's eye bloodline. He explained that the eye saw what the user willed it to see, except in the case of seeing the future. It was more then capable of taking on multiple traits at once, which was a skill Naruto gained quickly. This made the eye the Byakugan essentially, except it could see arteries, veins, muscles, etc. It lacked the 360º view field, however. The eye was also capable of acting like the Sharingan, in the sense that it granted the user a photographic memory, and allowed the user to translate thought to motion much faster, essentially allowing someone to instantly use a technique in conjunction with the ability to see how the chakra is gathered. At level one, it revealed an opponents next move periodically, and it slowed the opponent's movements down to the level of the Mangekyou. Higher levels allowed the eye to be used more, for less chakra, and to see more things, as well as more constant visions of the future. The final level was something only a true God could have.

Kratos taught Naruto a lot, from forging weapons to creating techniques of his own. However, none of his lessons meant more to Naruto then ideology. Kratos had the soul of a genuine poet within him, and he believed very strongly that fighting without a purpose made you a pathetic tool of Ares. He and Naruto often debated issues of morality versus practicality, and they usually agreed in the end. Naruto had picked up Kratos' habit of staring at the stars to answer his problems. If Naruto had learned nothing in the weeks of training, he had learned why a person should fight, and that made his training a resounding success.

Now, after almost four weeks of hard as hell training, he had two days left before the exams. Naruto had all but mastered his family Taijutsu, and extended his jutsu library to over 100, including some Medical jutsu, Kenjutsu, and even Genjutsu. His chakra control was perfect, and using it, he mastered flying, which was actually just forcing chakra out of every tenketsu and having it push against the air. Since he had no training planned for his brother today, Kratos had allowed his brother to sleep in, waking him at noon, and taking him out to the training grounds. Naruto had been worried constantly that he wasn't improving fast enough, and Kratos intended to reveal to Naruto the extent of his improvement.

"Naruto, today I am going to allow you to spar me without your weights and seals. I really want you to know how far you've come. You're welcome to use anything we've taught you that you feel necessary, just don't hurt him too bad." Kratos said.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked, surprised that Kratos would allow Naruto relief from the weights, which now weighed around 2 tons, as well as the gravity seals, which had reached a multiplication factor of X12. This rapid increase was entirely due to the special formula.

"Very. Off with them." Kratos said.

"And the _other_ restraints?" Naruto asked, as he deactivated his seals and weights.

"No, those stay on. I will fight with all my restraints, mostly because if I don't I would damage you too much." Kratos said. Naruto finished removing all of his extra weight, and he felt like liquid. His movement was incredibly quick, and in conjunction with all of the styles he knew, he would be unstoppable in the exam. The spar began with Kratos taking a defensive posture, since the idea of the fight was not for Naruto to realize his own improvement. Kratos actually underestimated that improvement, and Naruto slipped past his guard several times before Kratos caught on. Each of Naruto's teachers looked on with interest, all of whom had grown to really love the kid, who was so much like their leader, both in his philosophy and his ability to gain power. He fought well, applying everything he knew. When Kratos had decided Naruto's ego was boosted enough, he stopped the fight.

"I told you little bro, you are ready. Kakashi called a meeting today to discuss some stuff; I think you might want to attend. You need to make sure that your team has your back, and they need to know you have theirs." Kratos said, "Tomorrow, I will have some presents for you. 'Till then, do what you want." Naruto put his weights on, reactivate the seals, and left.

Naruto considered his option of attending or not, and decided it was for the better. He reasoned that Kakashi might be sharing some invaluable exam information, which was what he told Artemis when she asked why he chose to go. In truth, he wanted to show off his new look. Everyone who taught him demanded that his jumpsuit be eradicated. Instead, he wore Myrmidon armor (which, if you were wondering is similar to ANBU armor, only there aren't any masks and shoulders are protected, and the under armor is leather, not cloth. His armor was black, and bore the owl on the front, the symbol Kratos had taken from his mother and given to his unit. Naruto and Kratos had the Kyuubi emblazoned on their armor as well, since they were the first two fox summoners. Naruto made is way to the Hokage tower, wanting to tell the old man everything about his awesome new skills.

"Ojii-san! You won't believe how good I've gotten!" Naruto shouted as he walked into the office. The Sandaime looked up from his piles of paper work to see Naruto dressed in intimidating armor which he recognized immediately.

"You're a myrmidon?" Sandaime asked.

"I'm still considered a trainee, but I have really improved!" Naruto said happily. "I've learned a lot about fighting and other ninja stuff too. Despite my nii-san being a complete sadist, he is a damn good teacher." Naruto said.

"I look forward to watching you in the exams. I have watched the Myrmidons since they came in, and they really are…incredible. They built their entire training complex in a matter of days, and they have made some major improvements to Konoha security. The report makes up about half of this damn paperwork…" Sandaime said. He was going to continue, but Naruto interrupted

"Ojii-san, have you considered using a kage bunshin? You get the knowledge, that was one secret to my improvement, so it's almost the same as you doing the work. Plus, in the event of an attack, it would be mistaken for you. A perfect decoy." Naruto said.

'Wow…quite the observation, Naruto really has changed.' Sandaime thought, then spoke, "Naruto, that is an excellent idea. Even in my old-age I can produce a few. No wonder your father went right through paper work that must have been his secret. Now, I believe Kakashi-san is having a meeting in a bit, you should go, or are you planning to account for his usual tardiness and wait to attend?"

"Nah, I think I'll show on time. I have to patch things up with my team…I really pissed them off before training…" Naruto said, and then left the office to head to the forest clearing where the meeting was being held.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura were sitting at the clearing. Sakura had been unusually quiet during the meetings Kakashi had called to discuss their teamwork, she had been hurt by what Naruto said to her, even if she felt justified in defending her Sasuke-kun. Sasuke was busy brooding, thinking about his training. He had learned to use his Sharingan inside and out, and had even advanced both eyes to two tomoes. The dobe didn't have a prayer if they fought; at least that's what he thought. The two sat there by the bridge, not knowing that they were being watched by a certain blonde. 

"Hey Sasuke-kun, shouldn't Naruto be at these meetings, seeing as they are about teamwork? I mean yeah he's probably been training pretty hard but so have we and we still show up." Sakura said.

"Who cares about that dobe? He probably hasn't improved much." Sasuke said.

"I really resent that." A voice called out from the trees.

"N..Naruto? That you?" Sakura asked. Sasuke was freaked out and looking around frantically because he couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

"Sakura that isn't the dobe, he can't mask his presence at all, he isn't…" Sasuke had more to add to his tirade of insults, until he saw Sakura look right above him sporting fish eyes.

"You know, considering I've been right above you the entire time, you really shouldn't be talking about me not improving." Naruto said. Sasuke looked up to meet with the blue eyes of his team-mate, who was suspended up-side down in above his head. Sasuke just smirked.

"So what? You're just using chakra to stick to a…branch…how are you doing that…?" Sasuke asked as he realized that they were in the center of the clearing, no branch reached that far. Naruto gently landed between his two teammates, and spoke.

"Not really important, but I might teach you sometime. Anyway, I came to apologize. Sakura, I am really sorry about what I said a few weeks ago. I was dead tired, already very irritated, and I overreacted to what you said. Again, I am sorry."

"Accepted Naruto, but I need to apologize too. You really have improved…I can't believe you actually flew…that's incredible!" Sakura said, feeling better then she had all month. She noticed that lack of the affectionate suffix that he usually used, but she didn't care all that much, given that she was still obsessed with Sasuke.

"Thanks, I can't really maintain it for too long yet since it takes a hell of a lot of concentration, but it's really fun, and its good exercise. Anyway, the second reason I came is really to make sure that in this exam we stick together. We have to cover each other's backs you know? I found some techniques in the library at my new house that I thought you guys would like, and they are fairly easy but really useful. Sasuke, Sakura, catch." Naruto said, tossing Sasuke and Sakura a scroll each.

"Wow dobe, these are pretty good…good power, don't take much chakra for Katon techniques. Nice." Sasuke said, reading through the list of Katon techniques. Sakura opened hers up after hearing Sasuke actually give Naruto recognition for something he did.

"Medical jutsu and Genjutsu…I guess I have the control, but I am going to need to study human physiology for a few of the medical ones. But still, these are helpful. These Genjutsu…these are really cool…never heard of them." Sakura said.

"My brother made a few, actually, and added them to the library. He actually managed to teach me Genjutsu!" Naruto said happily. "You would make a good medic, what with your perfect control and all. Plus, you're really smart, so learning all about the human body shouldn't be too tough for you." Naruto continued.

Team 7 sat for about another hour. Sakura and Sasuke noticed that Naruto had managed to stay calm and quiet for the most part, and both were happy that he actually dressed and acted more like a shinobi. After a long time, Kakashi finally showed up, pleased to see that Naruto attended this last meeting before the exam.

"Yo guys, I ran into this bear on the way here and it tried to touch my book, so I had to fight it, but it got it's mate to help and they were pretty big and all…" Kakashi said, but was interrupted by Naruto walking up and waking him over the head. With the amount of weight Naruto had on his arm, Kakashi was hit pretty hard. "Ow, Naruto how much weight do you have one you…that really hurts…" Kakashi pouted like a baby.

"Don't like it, don't be late. And all I know is an ass load. These weights adjust automatically as my body adapts, so I don't really need to keep track. Ask nii-san, Okaa-san, or Ophelos-san. They keep records for some reason." Naruto said.

"Right…whatever…now that I the world stopped spinning, let's begin the meeting. You guys have definitely all improved. Sasuke under me, Naruto under his brother, and Sakura, you did really well improving your self; I can feel the difference in your chakra stores. But you all need to remember that working together is a key component of being team-mates. This test is not supposed to be taken as individuals, so if one of you ducks out, you all fail. I waited until know to reveal this because I need to be sure you are all determined to take the exam. I believe that if you put aside things like pride and favoritism you can pass this. That's all I had to say. You guy's do me proud alright?" Kakashi said.

"Sir!" His team responded.

* * *

The next day, Naruto woke up early, and headed for the academy building to meet up with his team to take the test. On the way, he encountered the Konohamaru Corp., who arrived in their usual method.

"Boss, can you play with us?" Konohamaru asked.

"Sorry guys, but I have an exam to take." Naruto responded.

"Oh! The Chunin Selection Exam! Maybe we can race there?" Konohamaru said.

"Sure…I'll give you a head start." Naruto said, not wanting to use the energy, planning to let Konohamaru run his heart out while he set a nice, easy pace. The kids dashed off, and after turning a corner Naruto was going to go his own way, when he heard "OOF!" And Konohamaru yelling. He ran after them, finding a weird make-up wearing guy with a bandaged lump on his back and a blonde girl with a fan. The make-up guy was holding Konohamaru above the ground, preparing to beat the poor kid up.

"Put the kid down. I would rather not have to hurt you. I'm guessing you are here for the exams? Any violence outside the test would be breaking the rules you know." Naruto said.

"Yeah, Kankuro…put the kid down. So he ran into you, big deal. Put it in perspective, I'd rather not get in trouble and draw attention." The blonde girl said.

"Feh, you run along Temari. I want to teach these idiotic leaf genin a lesson." Kankuro said. He was about to punch Konohamaru, but his fist was held firmly in place by Naruto, who had moved to grab the punch. At the same time, he felt a small pebbly hit him square on the forehead.

"Hey Sasuke, join the party. Kankuro was it? I am warning you, put my friend down now, and let him be. Or my team-mate and I are going to make it very difficult for you to take this exam." Naruto said. Sasuke just grunted, and stared.

"Kankuro, do as the blonde one says. You are an embarrassment to our village, doing this. Do anything like this again, and I'll kill you." A voice from behind Sasuke said. Everyone looked over to the opposite branch of the tree, where a short red-head stood. His eyes were black-ringed and he had the kanji for love on his forehead.

"Ga…Gaara…sorry…won't happen again." Kankuro said, fear on his face.

"Good. You two…what are your names? I am Sabaku no Gaara." Gaara said, getting down from the tree.

"I am Kazama Naruto; the one in the tree is Uchiha Sasuke."

"I look forward to seeing you in the exams. Brother, sister, let's go." Gaara said.

'He snuck up behind me without me even noticing at all. That stealth goes beyond Kakashi-sensei. He's good…" Sasuke thought.

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto left for the Academy, meeting up with Sakura on the way. Upon arriving, they saw a huge group of people gathere outside of what was apparently Room 301. They approached, and Naruto scoffed about something. Sasuke was going to ask what it was, until he saw that there was a semi-circle around the door, and an older Konoha Genin wearing the hideous green-spandex was on the floor, beaten and bloody.. Naruto immediately recognized the boy as Rock Lee, but his team didn't recognize him by name. There were two Chunin guarding the door, who had apparently dealt the damage, the first of which had a freak hair cut and several bandages on his face. The second had a hitai-ate that covered his entire head so that only a few stubbles of hair showed. 

"Please, let my team and I enter. We need to take the exam." A girl with her hair in buns and a Chinese style shirt said. One of the Chunin just punched her down.

"We're being kind. I and my partner here took the exam three times before we passed. It isn't easy." The first said.

"Yeah, we've seen people give up on being shinobi, get killed, and more." The second added.

Most of the rookies had arrived at this point and were a little nervous. Naruto looked like he was going to laugh. Sasuke finally realized why, and smirked.

"Drop the Genjutsu." He said, plainly. Most of the gathered Genin were thinking 'what an idiot…there isn't a genjutsu…' Sasuke simply continued speaking.

"Sakura, Naruto. You both noticed it right? Sakura, your Genjutsu is the best on the team, and Naruto, you trained with the Myrmidons. Did you really think this would slip by those two as well as an Uchiha? So, drop the illusion." Sasuke said. Sakura chose this moment to speak up, revealing how obvious the genjutsu was.

"After all, this is the **second floor**. Not really that great a genjutsu…" Sakura said.

The two Chunin looked at each other, then smiled.

"So you saw through a half-assed illusion. So? Let's see if you can handle this!" The first Chunin said, and then kicked at Sasuke with incredible speed. Sasuke brought his foot up to return the kick, but both opponents found their attacks in the hands of Rock Lee.

"Lee, what happened to the plan? It was your idea to fake our skill and not draw attention to ourselves…" A pale-eyed boy spoke up. The girl from earlier started shaking her head, muttering "Oh god damnit Lee…" Lee looked at Sakura, released both attacks, and went into the nice-guy pose that made Naruto cringe. Several times during his training, Gai and his mimic had tried to show up to "reclaim the honor of their youth". Gai got his ass kicked every time, but each time he did that cursed pose and swore to win the next fight. The end result of which was that Naruto picked up Kratos' utter hatred for the pose. The only good thing to come out of it was that it revealed Naruto's talent for nicknames.

"Let's go out sometime! I'll protect you with my life!" Lee said enthusiastically. Sakura just paled and thought 'that outfit…that bowl cut…those eyebrows…' and shuddered at the thought of being associated with the fashion disaster. It burned her eyes more so then Naruto's jumpsuit had.

"HELL NO!" She screamed.

"Yeah, Fuzzy Brows, get away from her…" Naruto said. Sasuke had a twitch in his eye at having his kick intercepted so easily. Rock Lee looked over to the "emo-teme" as Naruto had decided to call him, though he hadn't used the name yet.

"Your name is Uchiha Sasuke right? I was wondering if you would like to have a warm-up fight before the exams." Rock Lee said.

"Feh, fine." Sasuke said.

* * *

They headed over to a near-by sparring area, and slipped into their respective stances. Naruto and Sakura stood at the sidelines. Sakura was busy cheering Sasuke on, telling him to mutilate the eye-brow freak. Naruto simply sat, and analyzed the possible out-comes of the fight as he was trained to do for practice. He thought for a short while, and announced his conclusion to Sakura.

"You should stop cheering. Emo-teme doesn't know what he's in for." Naruto said.

"DON'T CALL SASUKE-KUN THAT! And what do you mean, no one can beat an Uchiha! Besides, you don't know that Sasuke finally got it! His Sharingan!" Sakura responded.

"Sharingan or not, he's going to lose." Naruto said. Sakura just scoffed and continued cheering. Lee and Sasuke were busy with a little pre-fight conversation.

"Knowing the Uchiha name and still challenging me…you're an idiot." Sasuke said.

"We'll see. I am going to prove that hard work beats genius, right here." Lee said. With that, Lee simply smiled, and attacked. Sasuke barley saw the attack, and it came so fast he couldn't dodge it.

'Crap, have to block…' he thought as he put his arm in position. The attack just slipped under it and hit him very hard.

"What the…how did you get past my guard? Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, I don't care, these eye's will reveal it." Sasuke said, revealing his Sharingan eyes.

"Those eye's won't help you…" Lee said before attacking again, and the same result repeated itself. Sasuke could see the attack perfectly, but his body couldn't keep up.

"Impossible…" Sasuke said.

"I see you understand. My moves are neither Ninjutsu nor Genjutsu. They are simple Taijutsu. The Sharingan can see through Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, and makes the latter useless for the most part. For Taijutsu, it's a little different. You can see my movement fine, but your body has to be able to keep up for it to matter. You can't, so you don't have a chance." Lee said. Sasuke was visibly pissed now, and launched into an attack. Lee got under it and launched Sasuke into the air with a kick. Lee jumped up under Sasuke and his bandages started to come undone. "I'll prove it…that hard work will defeat genius any day." Lee said as the bandages further extended.

Before Lee could finish what Naruto knew would be a devastating move, a pinwheel hit the bandages, pinning them to the wall. Lee landed, and had a look of astonishment and fear on his face.

"You…you were watching?!" Lee said. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all looked in the direction he was speaking and saw a red tortoise.

"Yes. You know that technique is forbidden. Are you ready for your punishment!?" The tortoise said.

'It can talk?!' Team 7 thought collectively. Lee gulped, paled, then responded with a shaky "Yes…". On top of the turtle there was a puff of smoke, and the elder fuzzy brows stood on the shell in a pose that made Naruto flinch. Gai reared back and smacked Lee into the wall. Then the two started hugging, screaming about the springtime of youth. Naruto was trying to blind himself with his hitai-ate while Sakura and Sasuke just stared. The strange Genjutsu, the spandex, the screaming…it was a sensory overload of the worst kind.

'I lost…to these freaks?!' Sasuke thought.

'So disgusting…' were Sakura's thoughts. Naruto was busy trying to repress any and all memory of the event. Gai looked over to them, and spoke.

"You are Kakashi's students, yes? People think of me and him as eternal rivals!" Gai said.

"You, Kakashi's rival? I doubt that." Sasuke said. Gai simply used his speed to get behind Sasuke and tapped him on the back.

"The scores 51-50, my favor." He said, smiling. Then he looked at the blonde who had his Konoha hitae-ate over his head and his hands over his ears. He pried Naruto's hands off and yelled at him.

"TELL YOUR BROTHER I WILL DEFEAT HIM!!!"

"Sure, sure, just leave me alone…" Naruto said, shuddering. Gai and Lee then ran off to do some laps before it was time to take the exam. Seeing they only had 30 minutes, Team 7 headed off to Room 301 for the second time. Sasuke and Naruto were thinking about how fun it was going to be, while Sakura, walking behind them, was worried.

'What if I can't keep up?'

* * *

Back at the Kazama compound, Kratos was meditating in the garden. Athena watched him, wondering if she should reveal her vision.She really did not want to worry her son, but she firmly beleived that she had to prepare him and herself for the worse, since there were several parts of the vision she thought she had pegged. She suspected he was the hawk, as he resembled so many qualities associated with it. He was fierce, a free spirit if there ever was one, and in battle, a majestic fighter. The snake was probably a human planning the downfall of Konoha, or at least one planning to do something devious at the most general level. The bloody axes were a symbol she knew well. They were the symbol of a true sociopath, Ares. The greenfire clearly represented Hades involvement. The only thing she was uncertain of were the shadows, but she had a theory, one which chilled even her to the bone. She decided it was best to tell him her interpretation, and interrupted her son's meditations.

"Kratos, trying to find another way I see." She said.

"Yeah, I can't have Naruto losing it like I did the first time. Even though I can control him, I don't want him to kill like I did. He doesn't deserve that memory." Kratos said.

"I hope you succeed in this. However, there is a slightly more pressing matter. I had a vision." She said.

"So? That happens fairly often. You do have the highest form of the eye after all, being its origin."

"Not one of the usual kinds. This one concerns me." She said. She proceeded to tell Kratos her vision. Afterward, he stared at her, clearly wanting to know what she thought it meant. "I believe this village has a rough period set for it. I see war, betrayal, and death. Kratos, that hawk, I think it represents you. I should warn you… you have some role to play in this, one that will be important…but I fear it will bring about your death, like Achilles before you." She said gravely.

"Damn…you know how to kill the mood you know that? You know better then I that those damn Fates have been wrong before about me. I think I can duck death once or twice more." Kratos said, smiling. Inside, he wasn't so optimistic. 'If I die now…all those souls…I would never be able to atone for them…' he thought.

* * *

Meanwhile, Team 7 was waiting to start the first exam. They were talking with the other Rookies, all of whom were slightly shocked at Naruto's change in appearance and attitude. He wasn't yelling, or screaming about how he would beat the crap out of everyone. Instead, he responded quietly to anything that was said to him.

"Hey, Naruto, you think that a new look makes you any better? I'm still going to kick you ass!" Kiba said. Naruto simply stared. Kiba was about to get angry before Hinata spoke up.

"Naruto-kun, Kiba didn't mean it that way." Hinata said, stuttering all the way. 'Naruto-kun has changed…how strong is he now?' She thought to herself, blushing.

"Hey…you guys should really be quiet. The Genin here are pretty nervous, you are only agitating them." A white haired boy with glasses said. "My name is Kabuto. You are all rookies right?"

"Yeah, what try are you on?" Sakura asked.

"Seventh. You could say I'm know this test inside and out, and I still can't pass it. Let me share some info with you cute rookies, maybe it'll help." He said, pulling out a deck of cards. "These are my nin-info cards. I infuse them with my chakra to put information on them, and I just use some of my chakra to reveal that information later." Kabuto continued. He explained the information regarding the villages. Some of the rookies felt a little inferior, although Kiba, Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Shino didn't have any worries. Sasuke wasn't concerned with most of them, he was worried about some specific nins.

"Do you have any info on specific shinobi?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, just tell me who want the information on." Kabuto said.

"Rock Lee, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sabaku no Gaara." He said. Naruto smirked a little at hearing his former name being said. It meant he was considered a threat, which made him happy to hear. He may not be showing it, but he was really the same inside.

'YES! HE IS WORRIED ABOUT ME! THANK YOU SETH FOR THE INTIMIDATION LESSONS!' Naruto thought, remembering that it was Seth who taught him the value of looking powerful. Outwardly, he was just beaming.

"You know their names, good. Makes things easy. Anyway, first up, Rock Lee. He has no talent for Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, but his Taijutsu is off the charts. He is a pretty talented Genin apparently. His mission stats are 20 D rank and 12 C rank. Next, Sabaku no Gaara. Holy crap…this kid's good, he returned from all of his missions without a scratch. His abilities are largely unknown because him and his team are new to the exams, and their foreign. Finally, Uzumaki Naruto." Kabuto said, looking for the last card. "Don't have an Uzumaki here, but there is a Kazama. That the one?" Kabuto said.

"Yeah. Naruto, when did you change your name?" Sasuke said.

"Ojii-san and nii-san did it after I found out my family name." Naruto responded.

"Right, anyway, your teammate here used to have fairly average abilities, nothing special. Apparently though, his brother put him through four weeks of hell and now I don't have a clue as to what he's capable of. His brother is the commander of Konoha's new military unit however, so I imagine that his stats have improved significantly. In cases like this, I advise you to forget any prior notions regarding said individual. If I don't have the info, it means he's hiding it for some reason. His mission stats are pretty impressive, 20 D, and a C that apparently jumped up to an A-rank, so it's counted as both." Kabuto said.

'Dobe, how good have you gotten?' Sasuke thought. At the front of the room, Ibiki and his examiners poofed in.

"Everyone, quiet! I am Morino Ibiki, first examiner. You are all, from this point on, taking the Chunin Selection Exam. No violence is permitted unless otherwise directed, and doing so will result in immediate failure. Each of you will be given a number which corresponds to a seat. Sit down, shut up, and I'll explain the first test." He said. He had a commanding air about him. Naruto noticed a glint in his eyes that he recognized pretty quickly.

'He's like Seth…a tormentor…most of the examinees here are screwed. He's going to play hell with our minds. I never thought that psychopath would be so helpful, but damn, he is really saving my ass a lot so far.' Naruto thought. Naruto got number 42 and went to his seat. After being seated, Ibiki began his explanation.

While Ibiki was explaining the rules, Sakura was indulging in her worries. Written test weren't a problem for her and Sasuke, but Naruto had always been horrible at them. She hoped her and Sasuke could cover for him.

"Also, if one of your teammates gets a zero, the entire team fails." Ibiki said. Naruto felt minor killing intent directed at him and knew why. He simply turned around and looked to where Sakura and Sasuke were seated and smiled, adjusting his forehead protector. "That's all the rules. Let me just say, during this test, act like a good shinobi, or fail. BEGIN!" Ibiki said. All the Genin flipped their tests over. Several instantly panicked. Sakura started writing down answers. Naruto gave the test a once over, and raised an eye-brow. Ibiki noticed this and decided maybe the kid needed to go to the bathroom or something.

"Something wrong Number 42?" He said.

"You guys gave me the wrong test, I'm pretty sure." Naruto said.

"What's wrong midget? Test too hard?" One examiner said.

"HARDLY! THESE QUESTIONS ARE TOO DAMN EASY! Get me a harder test! Naruto demanded. Everyone who knew him was both in shock and sweat dropping at the same time. The question on their minds was "How in hell can he change so much, and yet not at all?!" Regardless, Naruto had his mother to thank for his ability to deal with the test. His mother was a hell of a teacher, and in four weeks time had managed to bring Naruto up to speed on high level Mathematics, Physics, Cryptography, and number of other fields. His mother managed this incredible feat by actually hard-coding the knowledge into his brain, and then educating him in his sleep inside of his mind. Naruto now had the knowledge to back his surprising intellect.

"Kid, let me see that." Ibiki said, walking up and looking over the test. It was the right one. "You've got the right test." He said, before leaving. Naruto shrugged, and started writing. He was done in all of 20 minutes, earning him the stares of everyone in the class, Sakura and Sasuke included. Sasuke wasn't doing so out of shock, he was copying everything Naruto did.

'Smart Naruto…you adjusted your forehead protector to flash me a Morse code message…you really have gotten good, a worthy rival.' Sasuke thought, surprised that Naruto had figured out the test, and already knew the answers without cheating. Sakura was just shocked. She kept working, taking about 35 minutes total to finish. She couldn't believe that it had taken her longer then the dead last of the class. After the test, she didn't have much to think about, so she tried to figure out how he got so damn smart.

'I doubt Kratos could make such a dense moron so damn smart. Maybe it was his Mom. Apparently she IS a goddess. Hell, it IS an act of God. Maybe I should get her to tutor me a little…' Sakura thought.

Several teams failed before the tenth question was called. After a very long time, Ibiki finally told everyone that it was time to take the tenth question.

"There are some special rules for this one. It's a question of desperation. First off, you have to decide whether or not you want to take it. If you don't, you fail." Ibiki said.

"What the hell kind of question is that? Of course we'll take it!" A girl said whom Naruto recognized as one of Gaara's teammates. He was fairly sure her name was Temari.

"Ah but you see, there is a special condition for this question. If you choose to take it, and get it wrong, you'll be barred from taking the Chunin exam again. This cannot be revoked, and is permanent." Ibiki said.

'Mind games…I freaking knew it. I hope Sakura knows Morse code…' Naruto thought before using the reflections from his forehead protector to flash his teammate a message, which, when deciphered was 'The sadist is playing mind games. Take the question.' Sasuke got it no problem, although in his case it was unnecessary. Sakura, however had little confidence in her ability as a kunoichi, and might decide to duck out before it got to the point where she would get hurt. A smart move, but Naruto knew better. He remembered an instance where Kratos had discussed with him the fact that most people were better then they knew after Naruto raised his concern.

* * *

_Flashback_

_"Nii-san, if I am going to take this exam, I am pretty sure I would have to do it as a team of three. Kakashi-sensei told us on the first day that there was a reason we were teams. The problem is that Sakura…she just can't seem to bring herself to my and Sasuke-teme's level. I know she's a good kunoichi; she's really smart and has incredible control, so why can't she get much better?" Naruto asked his brother._

_"You always have good questions, it's a shame nobody every bothered to help you with them before now. You have to understand that most people don't really know what they are truly capable of. You and I have to understand that, because if we don't, it's too easy for our bloodline to take control and drive us to madness…" Kratos said, noticeably pausing at the end. "But you have a way of getting people to find what they are looking for. It's a hell of a quality, you know that. You'll help your teammate find her path, don't worry. But I can offer some advice. She sounds like a good support shinobi. Her being a kunoichi does somewhat limit her ability in hand to hand combat without significantly building onto her skeletal and muscle structures, since she wasn't born with a naturally sturdier build. Granted, it doesn't bar her from becoming an incredible fighter, but it would be really difficult, and she probably would not measure up to someone born with a naturally denser body... It's just that those who have applied usually apply for the wrong fields. Maybe that's Sakura's problem. Try to get her into medical stuff and genjutsu, and she could become pretty powerful. I met someone like that once, apparently a Sennin from Konoha, Tsunade I think. She used her control to give her strength on my level, which, considering she isn't a demi-god is incredible."_

_"But that is only part of the problem. She really doesn't believe she can get any better. That, and the fact that she NEVER trains because she is always watching Sasuke, really hamper her." _

_"Well, that is something you can help her with more so then I. Show off a little in the exam, maybe you can convince her to ask you for help over the emo boy." Kratos said._

_END FLASHBACK_

* * *

Sakura got the message this time, and decided that it might be a good idea to trust the blonde. She was beating herself up mentally, but she figured he knew what he was doing. Ibiki's rule had beckoned two questions from her mind, however.

"Bull. First off, there are returning examinees here who have failed before now. Second, how could you have that authority? Konoha can't force Genin from other countries to never take the exams again. After all, they aren't always held here."

'Another smart ass. Just like that blonde kid, damnit…they ruin all the fun! Think fast, Ibiki, or Anko will laugh at you later…' Ibiki thought, a chibi version of Anko laughing at a crying chibi Ibiki, who was clutching a teddy bear for comfort. "You guys had it tough, this is my first year as a proctor. And every foreign shinobi that is in this room can be here because their respective countries are in alliance or at the very least non-hostile to our own. As such, they have agreed to the examination methods that Konoha implements, just as we agree to those of other countries when we send our shinobi to their exams." Ibiki said.

'Nice save, Ibiki, but I am going to…' Naruto was going to finish his thought but took a few seconds to create a good evil laugh 'WRECK THIS DAMN TEST'. After a few more teams failed, Naruto started to shake. He was actually shaking with inner laughter; he knew that the sadistic examiner would hate him for what he was going to do. Sasuke was worried for a moment, and then assumed Naruto was just planning to show off. Sakura was a little more concerned, not sharing Sasuke's confidence.

'Maybe I should drop…I don't want him to fail just yet…' Sakura thought. She was going to raise her hand when Naruto slammed his own onto the paper in front of him.

"YOU THINK SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLCRAP IS GOING TO SCARE ME! SCREW YOU! I AIN'T DROPPING OUT, SO JUST ASK YOUR STUPID QUESTION AND STOP TRYING TO PSYCHE US OUT!" Naruto yelled.

'Crap…there goes the game…Anko's gonna make fun of me now…damn you kid…' Ibiki thought, the chibi him now torturing Naruto instead of clutching his teddy. He looked around the room to the various Chunin gathered. Each one nodded their approval, realizing that Number 42 had just dispelled everyone's worries. Granted, most of the people who didn't know him thought he was some kind of genius, and even the one's that did were surprised, but Naruto had revealed the trick. The whole wait was just a mind game, and now that people knew it, it wasn't going to work; especially not after the pink haired one had pointed out that Konoha couldn't really bar them from taking another test. Sure, Ibiki had a nice cover, but it wasn't that strong. Ibiki simply sighed in defeat. 'I just know she's gonna laugh at me' Ibiki thought, again picturing a laughing woman and himself whimpering in shame, clutching a cute little teddy bear for support. "All right, everyone who is still here…" Ibiki began, his face taking a dark serious tone as he looked around. '72 people…damnit.' "You all pass!" He said, suddenly smiling. Half of the class sweat-dropped, seeing him go from someone who could stare down death to Mr. Sunshine. The other half was pissed.

"WHAT! But what about the 10th question?" Sakura asked.

"You could say that was the 10th question. I think blondie gets it." Ibiki said, pointing to Naruto. "You've been around torture specialists before, huh?"

"Yep. I'll give you the guy's name, you'd get along. Anyway, the point of the question is the 'take or don't take' decision. If you don't take it, you fail, and your teammates hate you. Whereas if you do and get it wrong, not only will you fail and your teammates will hate you anyway, you become a Genin forever. In real life, this would be kind of like…" Naruto paused for a moment, trying to think of what to say. "Whether or not you eat! If you eat, you might get a stomach ache! If you don't eventually, you die, after getting a stomach ache! You don't really have a choice!" Naruto said happily. The entire room sweat-dropped, although Chouji nodded, understanding the analogy perfectly, as horrible as it was. Ibiki just stared.

"Not…quite the way I would have put it. A Chunin has to make decisions for his team you see. Blondie here put it in a day to day situation; let us put it into shinobi context. You are given a mission to infiltrate an enemy compound to retrieve data regarding the blue prints of the base. You don't know how many enemies there are, their skill levels, guard patterns, etc. The mission is clearly dangerous, but it would be a great boom to the village's success if the information proves to be good. Do you decline the mission simply because it's dangerous? No. As Chunin, you will face these decisions, and these situations regularly. If you can't manage to choose to take a simple test simply because of a small consequence like not being able to take the exam again, then you don't deserve to be a Chunin, because people like that…they can't withstand something like this." Ibiki said, removing his hitai-ate, revealing his head. Several Genin threw up. His head was covered in scars made from a multitude of torture devices. Blades, screw holes, burns from acid, fire, and even ice were all represented by one scar or another. He looked like something out of a scary movie with his head exposed.

'Holy shit…' was all Naruto could say. At that point, a black ball smashed into the window and revealed a giant black tapestry, which read "Second Examiner: Mitarashi Anko". A purple haired woman stood in front of the message, and looked around.

"72 people?! Ibiki, what the hell…that's so pathetic!" Anko said, starting to giggle.

"We…we just have some good people…please don't laugh at me…" He said the last part quietly, while one of his hands clutched a teddy bear inside of his trench coat pocket. Anko was laughing up a storm, but stopped after a little while to get back to business.

"Alright, whatever. I'm the second examiner, so follow me! LET'S GO!" She said happily.

'I like her, she's energetic.' Naruto thought, while the rest of the rookie 9 instantly hated her for reminding them of the blonde power plant. The Genin followed her to their second test, wondering what to expect.

Morino Ibiki was collecting the tests, intending to evaluate their information gathering skills for the records. When he reached Naruto's paper, he stopped for a moment.

'Jesus…these answers are better then the ones we gave our Chunin…and he knew the point of the test…that kid was trained by the Myrmidons, they must be damn good at what they do.' He thought as he gave it a once over. On the back, he found a small note written to him.

* * *

_Dear Sadistic Examiner,_

_You did good with the mind games, but I was tempered against that from the a full-fledged psycho. After spending some time with this guy, you don't get scared by much. His name is Seth, ask Ojii-san for the directions to the Myrmidon Torture Division, and ask for him. He'll probably show up right behind you, so watch it. Like I said, you two would like each other._

_From Naruto_

* * *

The letter had a little drawing of Seth for purposes of identification. Ibiki looked at it and thought 'Damn…that guy looks creepier then me…' Ibiki went off to the Hokage's office to ask for directions, wanting to meet this guy. However, a name was implanted into his memory, someone he was definitely recommending for promotion. 'Kazama Naruto…you have big things waiting for you.

* * *

POST NOTES: 

There you go 16 pages. I thought the Ibiki getting laughed at thing was really funny when I pictured it in my mind. I've read a lot of fics that have someone explain that the test doesn't make sense because Konoha would be outside their rights in barring people from becoming Chunin permanently, so I decided I would throw that in, but have it countered. I tried hard to give Naruto and Team 7 the spotlight in this chapter. I hope you like the 15½ page update. **Please review**; it would make me a happy person, and I would definitely be increasing my update schedule if we can reach 100 reviews or more by Chapter 10!


	7. Chapter 6: The Snake

Author's Notes:

It seems a lot of people liked my attempt at humor in the case of poor Ibiki. I always pictured that happening. Last chapter I got around 17 reviews for it, which isn't bad. This chapter is going to be the second exam, as well as the encounter with Orochimaru. For those of you who think that Naruto is getting too powerful, I'm going to keep it in proportion. As one reviewer said, "powerful people have powerful enemies". As such, don't expect his fights to be a pushover. I intend to make his life very difficult. As for when the pairing is actually going to come into play, which will happen during the 1 month break. He is still going to be trained by Jiraiya, so the pervert has a role. I intend for this story to really pick up now, because it's basically fighting, fighting, training, and more fighting from here on out, which is what I really have fun doing. Jiraiya will have his own spread of sadistic methods. A few people have e-mailed me in regard to Sasuke going over to Orochimaru or not. He's still going over, and because I honestly hate the emo-boy, he's going to receive a fair amount of bashing before and after he does. So, enjoy Heirs of the Warrior Chapter 6!

* * *

Chapter 6:

The Snake

* * *

The remaining Genin followed the energetic Mitarashi Anko to a fenced off forest. The Genin could tell that this forest did not belong, as i looked like something out of a horror film. The interwoven branches of the forest canopy blocked any light, shrouding the bottom levels in obscure shadows. A perfect environment for ninja, but that is precisely what had many of the examinees feeling squeamish about the next test. It didn't give anyone a specific advantage, since they were all trained to adapt to varying environments, and to use the features of those environments. Every half-way decent shinobi there was more then capable of turning themselves into an invisible specter against the dark recesses of the seemingly never ending forest. And this was just anxiety from looking at Training field 44, they were not even versed on what the test would actually be. 

"Okay runts; this test is a survival test. This training field, it's called the 'Forest of Death', and you have the fortune of being stuck in it for a little while! Each team get's a scroll, either Heaven," Anko said as she pulled out a scroll with blue markings on the top and bottom, "or Earth." She pulled out another scroll, this time with brown markings. "Each team needs to somehow get one of whatever scroll they don't have. Then they need to make it to the tower that is in the exact center of this training field. There are only a few simple rules. The first is you have to finish this test with your full team able to continue. Unconscious teammates or severely injured ones fail you. Alright, next rule is that you don't open the scrolls until you reach the tower. Doing so…well that'll be a surprise!" Anko said with a big smile that made most of the Genin shiver. "You have 5 days, during which you can kill, steal, maim, hell I don't care just so long as you get the scrolls, and get to the tower. Any questions?" Anko asked, still hyper and happy. Naruto decided this was a good time to scoff. Anko chucked a kunai at him, which he caught between his index and middle fingers.

"Seriously…what's with all the sadists?! First Ibiki, then you, and none of you are all that intimidating. Seriously…throwing a one-bladed kunai makes it obvious that you're not trying to hurt me all that bad, or did you think I didn't notice?" Naruto said.

"Well, it's usually the one's who bark the loudest that die first anyway." She said evilly. Naruto gave her an equal glare before hitting her square in the forehead with her own kunai, handle first.

"There's your kunai. And by the way, you shouldn't be talking about loudmouths." Naruto said. The Genin were expecting Naruto to be horribly maimed, tortured, and in general sent to a hell from which there is no escape. Anko just cocked her head to the side.

"I like you, kid. You got guts, and skill to back it." She said. "Anyway, everyone here needs to sign these forms. I don't want a bunch of paperwork because some idiot get's eaten out there, so I'll a consent form from everyone. This way, if you die, it's not my fault." Anko said, still smiling. "You have forty minutes to get those signed and in my hand. During this time, you are welcome to stock up on supplies."

Team 7 quickly got the legal work in order, cursing bureaucracy as they went. Each member then went off to gather whatever supplies they felt necessary, bearing in mind that too many supplies would slow them down. After gathering what they felt necessary, Team 7 reconvened, and Sakura and Sasuke had a few questions for Naruto.

"Dobe, those questions were jounin level. How in hell did you know the answers?!"

"Naruto, how did you finish that before I did? You may have changed, but to amass that kind of knowledge in under a month is not possible."

"You know, my mom is called a **goddess** for a reason. What's impossible to you is child's play to her. Kind of scary actually, I'd hate to see what she would do to someone who peaked at her. What she did was…well I don't really understand it but she just kind of put the info in my head! Math, Physics, Science, History, all that. When it comes to learning about that kind of stuff, she decided I was hopeless. So instead of teaching the basics, she made it kind of like I was born with the knowledge, she just had to help me re-learn it. Cool, huh?" Naruto said.

"Naruto, what you're talking about is modifying the brain! That can't be done without killing someone, that's if it can be done at all without producing either death or a babbling brain dead idiot!" Sakura said.

"Well, I'm not dead, and I am pretty sure my brain still works." Naruto said. "But even still, some of those questions were rough. I cheated on one; I used my eyes to act like the Byakugan and copied it off some guy in front of me."

"One…dobe…you have got to be lying. You are the dead-last!" Sasuke said, angry.

"Actually, what he's saying is pretty much true." A voice said. Walking up behind the group was Kratos. "Nii-chan here is still pretty smart when it comes to fighting. He just couldn't care less about anything else, although he does have some aptitude for music, I guess because he likes loud stuff. Anyway, I just dropped by to congratulate you guys on passing. Ibiki dropped buy a little while ago, mumbling about some blondie who ruined his test. Seth and Ibiki hit it off, I think they are trading torture secrets…I heard something about getting blood out of teddy bears…" Kratos said.

"Teddy bears? Was that Seth or Ibiki?" Naruto said.

"Pretty sure it was that Ibiki guy. Seth has a bunny rabbit." Kratos said. Naruto burst out laughing. Sakura, who hadn't met Seth yet, didn't quite get it, but the thought that Ibiki had a teddy was both cute and hilarious, so she started laughing too. Emo-boy just smirked. "So I thought I'd drop this off for you." He grabbed a bunch of cloth from his back that was apparently rolled around something. Naruto took the cloth and unrolled it. Inside was a pair of twin blades, a bow, and a spear, in addition to two other weapons, neither of which appeared to have been made with Naruto in mind.

"Nii-san! These are incredible!" Naruto said, inspecting the weapons. "Who made these weapons; there isn't a shop in Konoha that carries something this good!" Naruto said, happy. Neji and his team were within earshot, and Tenten caught every word. Naturally, seeing as her father owned one such shop, she was insulted.

"OH REALLY?!" She yelled, walking up to Team 7. "My father's shop is the BEST, and there isn't a person around that could beat his craftsman ship, so you had better stop saying this like these little **toy's** are half as good as the stuff my father…makes…" Tenten said, trailing off at the end as her eyes inspected the weapons.

"Holy crap…these are…incredible…charka infused, riddled with seals, this bow sting can handle so much pressure, yet it's so easy to pull! Everything here…none of it could have been made by any ordinary forge!" Tenten said, rambling on and on about each gathered item.

"Glad you like my work…took me a long time to get the damn forge hot enough without the entire damn thing melting…it's a wonder the Kazama's could make anything in that hunk of junk. Anyway, you can thank nightmares for these." Kratos said. Tenten would have been fuming with shattered pride if not for being completely awestruck by the craftsman ship. "Anyway, I have a few for you guys too. Sakura, you always stuck me as the type who would appreciate the kind of graceful movement required to use these." Kratos said, tossing her a pair of extendable wrist blades (AN: If you have seen _Hellboy_, picture those blades used by the Nazi assassin).

"Thanks, do you know anyone who can teach me how to use them?" Sakura asked.

"I would like to do that myself, but I suck with them. I think there's a Myrmidon who uses them. She's a little busy working on strategy plans right now, but I will see about some training for you. And for emo-avenger boy here, I thought this suited you." Kratos said, handing Sasuke a battle axe. "It's a weapon representing hate, anger, all the things that you seem to love. I hate the damn weapon; even if I am skilled with it, so find someone else to teach it to you. I don't know any Myrmidon who does, but Taurus might have experience with it. Naruto, I need to talk to you for a second, alone." Kratos said. Naruto simply nodded, got up, and the two walked away. Kratos set up a barrier preventing anyone from listening to them or seeing them, so that no one could read their lips.

"What do you need?" Naruto asked.

"Your other bloodline…if you unleash it while you're in there, I won't be able to stop you. Remember who your friends are, you don't want to hurt them." Kratos said.

"Yeah…I got it. Anything else?"

"No, that's it. I just didn't want anyone to be worried about you going psycho. C'mon, I have one last thing to say to your team." Kratos and Naruto walked back, and Kratos spoke again. "Guys, in that forest, your only friends are each other. You are a team, which means you have to have each-other's backs. Trust is crucial to this test. If you start acting like idiots in there, and argue amongst yourselves, you're dead. Trust each other."

With those earls of wisdom, Kratos left Team 7 to meander around for five minutes, and then turned in their consent forms. They received a Heaven scroll. (AN: I neither know nor care if that is what they got in the manga. Anyone who decided to flame me for that, don't bother.) After heading to their gates, they prepared themselves for the test by going over their supplies. Sakura went first.

"I have 4 complete med-kits, 20 exploding tags, 40 kunai and 20 shuriken. I also have a fair amount of blood and soldier pills, I am not sure how many." She said.

"I have a bunch of trap supplies, 100 kunai and an equal number of shuriken, enough freeze dried food for myself at least. If we ration it, it might last us all three days. Let me see what else…" Naruto said, digging through his bag. "Campsite equipment too." Naruto finished up.

"Naruto, your pack isn't nearly big enough to hold all that. You must be over estimating." Sakura said, grabbing the pack and looking inside. All that she could see were a few plastic bags with scrolls in them. "Naruto, WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS YOU DAMN BAKA!" Sakura said as she hit him over the head multiple times.

"SEALS DAMNIT! You think I'm crazy enough to carry all that weight? All that stuff is sealed inside of the scrolls!" Naruto yelled out while dodging blows.

"Oh…ok then." Sakura said. "Hey wait, when did you learn seals?"

"My dad was pretty good at them, and the library at the house had a lot of information on them. Kratos and I researched them now and then. This is one of the more useful ones I know." Naruto said, his head swelling with pride.

"That is pretty cool…" Sakura said. She then noticed that Naruto wasn't carrying the weapons he'd been given. "Is that what you did with those weapons?"

"Yeah, two seals on my gloves for the swords, one on my wrist for the spear, and another on my other wrist for the bow." Naruto said, indicating each seal. "I'll draw some for you." Naruto said, grabbing Sakura's hands and taking out some materials necessary for creating the seal. "This will just take a second…okay…that's the seal. To put something in it, you need to first activate it with your chakra. It'll store the chakra there so you don't have to worry about lacking the amount needed to unseal an object. Now, after that, you just need to connect the chakra in the seal to the weapon." Naruto said.

"Thanks…you are pretty good at this, to make two seals so quickly…I'll seal those weapons right now…" Sakura focused for a moment and the wrist blades disappeared. The twin seals on her wrists were glowing. "Thanks Naruto!" Sakura said.

"Enough banter. I've got three windmill shuriken, a guide of foods that can be found in forests, some fishing supplies, and few poisons." Sasuke said, irritated.

"Nice, I think we are pretty well off. Give me that scroll, I have an idea!" Naruto said. Sasuke grudgingly handed Naruto the scroll, and Naruto took out a blank slip of paper. He bit his finger and began drawing a seal in his blood. He sealed the scroll, and handed the slip to Sasuke. "That won't unseal without my blood, and you can carry it. Stuff it under your shoe or something, and I'll put a genjutsu on one of my scrolls so that it looks like the Heaven scroll.

"Good idea, dobe." Sasuke said. He opened up his pack and placed the paper in what was apparently a secret compartment. As he did this, he thought, 'Damnit…the dobe is surpassing me. I can't let that happen!' Sasuke thought.

Team 7 waited for a little while longer before the gates opened, and they rushed in. After a long while, Naruto stopped the group.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke and Sakura asked.

"Gotta take a leak." Naruto said sheepishly. He walked over to a tree and was about to lower his pants before Sakura waked him over the head.

"DON'T DO THAT IN FRONT OF A LADY!" She yelled.

"Alright, alright, sorry." Naruto said, and walked off to find a different tree to mark. He mumbled something about using Sakura's yell to attract other teams, but fortunately for him, the jibe went un-noticed.

Sakura and Sasuke got up when they saw Naruto return, but Sasuke pulled out a kunai and tossed it at Naruto. Naruto dodged it, and looked angrily at Sasuke.

"What the hell was that for, ass hole?!" Naruto said.

"Yeah, Sasuke-kun…I know he was a little impolite earlier but that is a tad overboard." Sakura said.

"That isn't Naruto. Naruto would have started yelling, and he wouldn't have had to dodge. He showed earlier, catching a kunai from a jounin isn't a problem, so he would have caught mine. So why don't you show us who you are?" Sasuke said.

"Damn, you got me. Unlucky…" the pseudo-Naruto said, before poofing into a mist-nin who was wearing some odd breathing apparatus and a latex outfit. "But still, you will give me your scroll." The nin said.

"You really are unlucky aren't you? We don't have it. The one you were impersonating does." Sasuke said.

"Then I'll just kidnap one of you…" the mist nin shot forward, but was beat down to floor by a blur.

"Try it, I wonder if that breathing thing will help you with a big hole in your throat." said Naruto, who had just finished his buisness and managed to sneak to the canopy so that he could pounce on the mist shinobi. Naruto was currently standing on top of said shinobi as he spoke. "Now, either give us your scroll, or get." Naruto said.

"I don't have it." The mist nin responded. Naruto just shrugged, tossed him into the air, and drop kicked him off to nowhere special.

"Nice one, dobe. We should really make a password; the next one might actually have some talent." Sasuke said.

"Something that only one of us would know…" Sakura said, thinking. The decided on the words to a shinobi song well known by the leaf. The team sped onward, deeper into the ominous recesses of the forest, oblivious to the threat that followed them in the canopy. Above them, moving silently like a shadow against shadows, was an odd looking grass-nin, waiting for the right moment to strike, and he had heard every word they said.

* * *

Kiba's team was making their way toward the tower, when Akamaru began to act very strangely."What's wrong boy?" Kiba asked his faithful pet. The dog responded with a whimper as it buried its head further into Kiba's jacket. Hinata thought it was kind of cute. "Akamaru senses someone really powerful…we should look into it. Hinata, what do you see with your Byakugan?" Kiba asked. Hinata activated her eyes and looked around. She spotted the Suna team going against a few rain nin. After a short discussion, the team decided to get a closer view, but opted to remain hidden, considering they already had their scroll. They drew closer, only to bare witness to one of the most gruesome and heartless killers in the known world at work. The rain nin attacked using needles fired from an umbrella, which embedded themselves in what appeared to be a shield of sand. It was then that Sabaku no Gaara mercilessly slaughtered his opponents using the Sabaku Kyū and Sabaku Sōsō to produce a fountain of crimson gore, which rained down onto him and his teammates. Kiba, Hinata, and even the apathetic Shino were deeply disturbed by the sand nin, and would be haunted by this scene for a long time to come. Needless to say, they made plans to avoid the Sand Genin at all costs.

* * *

While the events at the Forest of Death played out, Kyuubi was busy doing what he had spent the majority of last month doing. That is, sunbathing and lounging around in the Kazama compound's garden. (AN: Thank you to the reviewer who inspired me to say this.) However, he had spent **some** time working on the new summoning contract for his kind. He managed to make it so that he could be summoned in his full form using the chakra of the summoner. Kyuubi also spent some time with Artemis, hunting rabbits. He discovered an extremely useful skill that allowed him to shrink in size. The major drawback of this was that he looked to damn cute to any female. Men just made fun of him. As such, he couldn't escape the occasional squeals of delight from Artemis, who the squirrel sized version. Not that he minded the ear-scratches, it was just so undignified! He began constructing a training program for Naruto. Kratos was already strong enough, and Kyuubi knew that it wasn't going to be long before he received training from someone far more capable, so Naruto was his focus. Kyuubi chuckled as he thought up the most sadistic training methods he could some up with. Kratos and Kyuubi secretly had a competition going to see whose methods were more effective, and this competition had a few categories. Sadism of each exercise was one.

* * *

Naruto had left Sakura and Sasuke to set up the campsite he unsealed while he went off making traps. The equipment he brought with him was junk to anyone else, but Kratos had taught Naruto several effective alert systems that could be made from just about anything, in addition to some really clever and really painful traps that could be made from household items in the space of thirty minutes. Naruto's creativity paid off in this field, and he invented several knew traps to the Kazama's archives, which were sorely lacking in that topic. Being a prankster had its benefits. Naruto was laying out one of his own designs, something he wanted to test, when a gigantic blast of air knocked him off his feet and sent him flying. He tried slipping out of the air stream by flying, but he couldn't concentrate enough to evenly force out his chakra. He hit a tree and came to a stop, only to find himself face to face with a gigantic snake.

"Oh f#& me…" Naruto swore as the snake ate him.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura were face to face with the creepy grass nin, and they were not fairing much better then Naruto was with the snake. They were frozen by images of their own deaths. Each image was more horrific then the last, each the creative product of the truly demented. Each death was savage and painful, and each time they could feel the pain of their own demise. Sasuke was trying with everything he had to break the effects of the strange jutsu, but was utterly paralyzed by his own fear.

'Kuso…I can't beat this thing! What the hell kind of genjutsu is this?!' Sasuke thought. He looked over to Sakura, who was curled up on the ground, completely frozen and shaking.

"Ku ku ku Sasuke-kun. I thought the great Uchiha was better then this. You disappoint me. I suppose you'll just have to die." The grass shinobi said as he pulled out a kunai. Sasuke saw this, and willed himself to grab one of his own.

'I need to get out of this! My body…it won't move fast enough. I have to! I won't die here!' Sasuke thought, willing his hand to grab a kunai and stab his leg with it. The pain brought him out his fear induced paralysis. He grabbed Sakura and ran. 'We need to get out of here! He's too much!' For the second time in his life, Sasuke was helpless to do anything but run, scared for his life, and up against an opponent he had no hope of matching. He hated it, being reminded of the helplessness he felt night of Itachi's massacre.

* * *

Naruto was blissfully unaware of his team-mates peril, but as it was, he wasn't in a situation to care, seeing as he was trapped in the stomach of a huge snake, and was slowly being digested. Needless to say, he was running out of options very quickly.

'Crap! Nii-san never taught me how to escape from being eaten! Think think think!' Naruto screamed in his mind, frantic. 'Wait! I still have those weapons from earlier! Let's see what this sword can do…' Naruto thought, then summoned a blade to his right hand. He stabbed upward, and the snake shuddered. Naruto noticed that where he stabbed, the stomach lining had turned black, and the surrounding area was changing color. After a few seconds, the entire snake burst into ash, and Naruto fell, free of the snake's belly. The sword he had summoned was a bright red, and was lying in a mound of charring snake ash. 'Holy crap…' Naruto thought as he inspected the sword, or tried to, but the heat radiating from the blade made it difficult to inspect, although it didn't heat up the handle. Naruto pulled a small amount of chakra from the blade, but not enough to make the blade disappear. The flame of the blade died down, leaving perfectly cool metal. Upon further inspection, Naruto found a series of extremely intricate seals, each on a seal of an element. 'So the blade can take the power of elements. So if I channel chakra here…' Naruto channeled his chakra into a seal he didn't recognize, and his blade gained a large number of blue bolts orbiting around it. Naruto realized his older brother must have invented an elemental seal for lightning. Either that or he never taught that seal to Naruto. Naruto gave the blade a few swipes and bolts of deadly lightning flew out from his blade. Regardless of how the blade or the seals on it were made, Naruto loved it.

"Nice! Now, I have to find Sakura and Sasuke!" Naruto said, speeding off to find his teammates.

* * *

While Naruto's situation had significantly improved, the same could not be said for his team. Sasuke was carrying Sakura, who was still paralyzed by images of death, and trying to escape an enemy who was faster and stronger then Sasuke. To make matters worse, Sasuke was loosing a lot of blood from his wound. After awhile, thinking he had lost his pursuer, he stopped. Sakura shook off the genjutsu at this point, and bandaged Sasuke's leg using on of her kits. Sasuke and Sakura were getting ready to continue running, when they saw the grass nin standing at the other side of the tree branch they were on.

"Now now…when running from a predator, the only thing prey should focus on is doing just that…running. This has been somewhat entertaining, but the game really must end here." The nin said.

"Okay! Here, I'll give you our scroll!" Sasuke said, slowly opening his pack and taking out the slip of paper.

"Excellent, the only way to escape a predator is to offer it something better…" the nin said, walking towards them.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Naruto had arrived and was standing on a nearby branch. His eyes were activated and he looked pissed.

"Naruto don't! This one's different!" Sasuke said.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW HE WON'T JUST KILL YOU ANYWAY THEN?!" Naruto yelled again. Sasuke stopped what he was doing. He didn't have an answer for that question.

"Naruto-kun, my snake not enough for you? What's with those eyes…they aren't the Byakugan…humph no matter the real prize is the Uchiha…" the nin said "My name…is Orochimaru." The nin said, ripping of its face. Sakura flinched, remembering the name from Iruka's lessons.

"The Sennin…Naruto, we have to run! We can't handle him! We need to call ANBU or something!" Sakura yelled.

"Correct. And now I take the title of…YOUR EXECUTIONER!" Orochimaru said.

"Sennin or not…he ISN'T HURTING MY TEAM!" Naruto said angrily as he dove toward the snake shinobi.

"If the first snake wasn't large enough…try my other pets…" Orochimaru hissed out as he summoned a snake 10X the size of the first. Naruto didn't flinch. The snake lashed out at Naruto in an attempt to swallow him and received a cauterized rip in its leathery flesh for its troubles. Naruto had both of his blades out, one a roaring flame and the other had a small hurricane around it. The snake reared back from the fearsome weapons, but prepared to strike again. The snake launched forward for the second time, and instead of slicing it, Naruto simply roared, and shot his hands forward. He grabbed the snake's lower jaw, stopping it while Naruto began to break the snake's lower fangs with his bare hands. Sasuke was watching in awe. He noticed several things were off. Naruto hair was changing color to match the strange, fearsome chakra that was radiating from him. It was blood red, and Sasuke was terrified by the amount of killing intent it held. Naruto looked at him to reveal obscure eyes whose whites had turned pitch black, along with the usual bright blue around the pupil. This Naruto terrified Sasuke. Orochimaru simply looked on with interest.

"WHAT?! AFRAID SCARDEY CAT?!" Naruto yelled out, his voice seething with rage and malice.

"The master warned me about this power…one which rivaled his own fury. He wants it for himself, I won't interfere. I only want his gift." Orochimaru said. He erupted in purple chakra and swatted the psycho Naruto like a fly with a kind of speed that put Rock Lee to shame.

"You are so weak…I don't need you…" Orochimaru said, lifting Naruto up. "Allow me to take care of that malicious rage of yours. As refreshing as it is, it poses somewhat of a problem." Orochimaru said, spreading his finger tips as the purple chakra licked at them, and seals appeared on his hand. "Gogyō Fūin!" Orochimaru said, jabbing his hand into Naruto's stomach. The armor didn't prevent the passage of the potent chakra, and the seal burned itself onto Naruto's stomach. With a final roar, he fell limp.

"Now, Sasuke, allow me to leave you a gift. One that will grant you power!" Orochimaru said, and his neck shot out and he bit Sasuke on his shoulder blade. Sasuke screamed in pain, and then feinted. Sakura was shaking again. She had seen Naruto go berserk, her Sasuke-kun get bitten and then go unconscious, and was now alone and helpless before one of the most feared nin Konoha had ever had the shame to produce. "Take care of the Uchiha, girl. I will need him." Orochimaru said, then left, his mission completed. Sakura used what little physical strength she had left to move her two teammates to a safer location, and then set to work on their injuries.

* * *

It had been a two days since their encounter with Orochimaru. Sasuke developed a fever, and was sweating furiously. Sakura didn't have any ice but there was a river near-by with ice-cold water running down it. Other then that, she couldn't do much for him. Naruto was simply unconscious, and seemed to be recovering. She guessed that the strain of all that power had overloaded his body and it shut down as a safety. Her hypothesis was remarkably accurate for someone who didn't have a full understanding of the bloodline. What Naruto was suffering was something similar to her guess, but something else was occurring as well. Naruto's chakra had all been forced into overdrive at once, straining his coils to the point where an average human would have been killed by their own power. The only reason it didn't grant him the same power as opening eight gates was because it was almost impossible to control. That amount of power requires a special system for it, something far stronger then the average coils. Naruto's body was currently in the process of both strengthening his first system of coils and creating a much larger and far stronger system of secondary coils, which apparently were meant to channel that power. For any human being, this would have been impossible, because the body isn't capable of creating new systems. For a demi-god, regeneration also allows for innovation. Every single system has a back-up, even neural functions. This makes them extremely difficult to kill, because nothing short of destroying the heart or brain will do the job.

So there Naruto lay as his body set to work creating the necessary pathways. Sakura set about preparing some rudimentary traps in case they received any unwelcome guests. She placed Naruto and Sasuke inside of a small cave where they would be hidden from view. Unfortunately for her, the three sound Genin watched her do this, and prepared to carry out their order to kill Uchiha Sasuke.

Opting for straight out intimidation over stealth tactics, they simply approached Sakura's camp. Sakura instantly went into a defensive stance, kunai drawn.

"What do you want? Our scroll? I can't get it without Naruto, and he's unconscious." Sakura said quickly.

"Well the scroll would be a nice bonus, but that's not why we are here. We actually want to fight the Uchiha. Wake him up." The Nin in the middle spoke. His face was wrapped in bandages and he wore an odd coat with a bunch of what looked like straw on the back. His right arm had a huge metal object on it.

"I can't. Some freak went and bit him, giving him this weird seal, and know he's unconscious and extremely sick, so please…leave." Sakura said, hoping these three were just looking for a challenge, and not the chance to mercilessly kill something.

"Ah well, we can just have some fun with you until he wakes up then!" Another sound nin spoke; this one had dark, spiky hair, and what looked to be holes in his hands that reminded Sakura of Shino. "Dosu, let's play!"

"Indeed!" Dosu responded, charging forward. The nin who had just spoken then yelled at Dosu to stop. "What Zaku?"

"Look at the grass. There isn't any. That's freshly overturned dirt. And that rock there, it has scratch marks on it like it was being worn down." Zaku pointed out.

'Damn!' Sakura thought.

"Quite right, Zaku." Dosu said, using a shuriken to activate the trap and thus avoiding being caught in it and disabling Sakura's work. "Now, let's play!" Dosu said.

'Okay, get ready…' Sakura thought to herself, preparing herself for what would very likely be an extremely difficult struggle. Dosu charged, this time showing no signs of stopping, before he was knocked back by a whirl of leaves. Zaku and the female sound nin had already broke into a straight charge and couldn't halt their momentum. A cry of "Konoha Senpuu!" was all that they heard before being knocked back. The three got up shakily, wondering what had hit them. In front of Sakura stood Rock Lee in a 'nice guy' pose, with 100 percent teeth shine. It was a very traumatizing image. He turned to them and his stance shifted into that of the Iron Fist.

"I am Konoha's beautiful azure beast, Rock Lee! Leave now, or I will be forced to hurt you." Lee said.

"Freak. We'll show you a whole new kind of pain." Dosu said plainly, before rushing at Lee. The speed was nothing to Lee, but like any shinobi, Lee wanted to gauge his opponent. He wasn't going to let himself get hit, he just wanted a close call. Lee saw Dosu's right arm striking out for a punch. Knowing that the metal object probably had more weight then it appeared to, Lee opted to dodge instead of block. He easily ducked the blow. He heard a feint ringing, and then it felt like his head was exploding. He lost balance and nearly feinted. The area around him was spinning, and he couldn't seem to regain his footing.

"What…but I dodged…" Lee said shakily.

"My attack was never meant to hit you. This metal on my arm, it isn't just a guard. It's kind of like an amplifier, it let's me project sound waves into each attack. The ear drum can only withstand so many decibels and certain frequencies. I turn this thing up to high, and while you can't pick up the frequency, your ear still feels it. Right now, your eardrum has been practically shot open, and your inner ear, where your equilibrial fluid is, well, it's also shot to hell. As such, you won't be getting your balance back for a bit." Dosu said.

The sound nin all turned to Sakura. The female finally made a move, and got behind Sakura grabbing her hair and pulling upward on it.

"So much glossier then mine. You must take real good care of it. If you have time to care for your hair, you should use it to train. Maybe then you wouldn't be so pathetic!" She said.

"Kin, we do have a mission to complete, so please, keep the girl under control while you taunt her." Dosu said.

"Heh, this weak leaf isn't going anywhere." Kin said.

'So I really am useless…all I have is one kunai…I can't do much…I'm sorry Sasuke-kun…Naruto…' Sakura thought.

**'Shannaro! Did you forget about what's on your wrist?!'** Sakura's inner self screamed inside her head.

'Of course! They didn't see the seals…' Sakura thought. Dosu and Zaku were busy trying to undo several traps Sakura had set up to ensure Sasuke and Naruto were safe. Kin still held her grasp on Sakura's hair. Sakura prepared to do something that she would have never had considered if it wasn't her teammate's lives in danger. She was going to cut her hair. She brought her kunai up and sliced her hair right under the spot where Kin held her.

"What?!" Kin said, surprised. Dosu and Zaku turned, and immediately came to their teammate's aid.

Sakura drew out her wrist blades. Although she didn't know how to use them, they were better then nothing. Dosu threw a kunai at her, but she used Kawarimi to avoid the projectile. Dosu turned around to see Sakura charging at him. He threw another kunai, only to meet with the same result. This pattern continued several times over. Dosu was getting irritated, so when he saw Sakura falling towards him from above, he threw a kunai up and instantly looked around. Sakura wasn't anywhere. Dosu suddenly realized his mistake when he saw Sakura's shadow growing underneath him.

"Damn!" Dosu said. Sakura had her wrist blades set so that they would slice Dosu's neck on impact. Dosu brought his amplifier arm up, blocking the strike. Sakura's blade glanced off, but she landed in front of her opponent safely. Zaku came up trying to strike her from behind, but Sakura whirled around and latched her mouth firmly onto Zaku's arm. Zaku began to continually beat Sakura's head.

Watching this conflict was the InoShikaCho team. Ino was growing concerned for her rival, but she was worried that in attempting to aid her companions, she would compromise her team.

"Hey, you were friends once right?" Shikamaru asked. Ino didn't answer, she just looked on. "As troublesome as it is, we should help them." Shikamaru said.

"What? Shikamaru, are you crazy?! I don't want to die!" Chouji said.

"Quite Chouji. Shika's right, they need help. Let's do it!" Ino said. The team leaped out from the bushes, ready to defend their fellow Genin.

Sakura was starting to get dizzy. Her head hurt, and she couldn't take much more. Then Zaku stopped. Sakura fell on the floor, drained from her effort, but saw Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji launching into their attack. Kin was under Ino's control, and Dosu was in a similar situation due to Shikamaru's Kagemane no jutsu. Zaku was busy trying to counter Chouji's Baika no Jutsu, which was extremely difficult to defeat with just the Zankūha due to the spin. However, the weaknesses of each technique were quickly determined by the skilled sound nin, and the efforts of the InoShikaCho team had bought only time. However, they had bought time enough for Team Gai to locate their missing teammate.

"Stop. Leave now, or be beaten." Neji said. Neji and Tenten were both ready to attack if need be.

"You damn leaf nin…coming out like cockroaches…" Dosu said. "We will fight, you are so weak it won't make any difference."

"Suit yourself…" Tenten said. She was going to release a hailstorm of weapons, but Neji stopped her. "What?" Neji felt something very powerful, and very dangerous.

Sasuke struggled to get to his feet. He felt power…raw power flowing through him. He saw Sakura regaining consciousness, surrounded by the battered InoShikaCho team as well as the new arrivals, Neji and Tenten. Sakura looked over to the cave, and saw Sasuke's figure get up.

"Sasuke-kun!" She yelled, happy that the Uchiha was awake. Sasuke emerged from the small alcove, covered in what looked like black tattoos.

"Sakura…who did this…was it these weaklings?" Sasuke said. His voice sounded strange, different somehow, but Sakura couldn't place it.

"Ah, Sasuke, you're awake. We are ordered to kill you." Dosu said plainly. Zaku rushed forward, and Sasuke prepared to guard.

"Zankūha!" Zaku shouted, and a blast of air shot out of his arms. Sasuke felt a light breeze. He got behind Zaku easily, and grabbed his arms.

"Proud of these aren't we." Sasuke said, grabbing Zaku's arms. Sakura finally realized what was wrong with Sasuke. He seemed pure evil. "With this power…I'll rip them off!" Sasuke said, ripping Zaku's arms out of their sockets and breaking them. Zaku howled in agony, his most precious weapon as a shinobi made useless. Sasuke was laughing, revealing in Zaku's torment.

"Sasuke-kun STOP PLEASE!" Sakura pleaded. Sasuke threw her a passing glance before unleashing more of his hellish chakra. Dosu gave his situation a once over. Sasuke clearly overpowered him, there were plenty of Leaf nin still able to fight, and one of his team had just been disabled, and Kin wasn't going to be of much help. When up against an enemy that you can't defeat it, there is only one viable tactical option.

"Stop. Leave us be, and you may have our scroll in return." Dosu said, producing an Earth scroll.

"Fine. Now get out of here." Sasuke said. "But I still need to test this power…" Sasuke added, mostly as an afterthought. The gathered shinobi dissipated, the sound Nin leaving to find a new set of scrolls, and the Konoha Nin leaving to either find an additional scroll or to head to the tower. Sasuke was still reveling in the power of the curse seal when Naruto awoke.

"God damn…so sore…" Naruto said. His body had generated an entirely new component in a very short amount of time. Naturally, he was in no condition to fight. Sasuke had other plans. Upon seeing his rival get up, he immediately demanded a fight.

"Naruto! Fight me! I need to see how strong I am." Sasuke said. He activated his Sharingan, and slipped into a Taijutsu stance.

"What? Emo-teme? I can't fight right now I can barley move. Save it for later, we can't afford to be fighting each other right now, we are beat up enough as it is, yourself included." Naruto responded.

"Yeah, Sasuke-kun, you can fight later, right now we need to get to the tower we don't have too much time left…" Sakura said. She was correct, they only had two days to cover a very large amount of ground, considering they would have to avoid encounters with any foreign shinobi. Sasuke wasn't stupid enough to let pride interfere with his desire to rise in rank, and he sure as hell wasn't going to fail when they already had the scrolls they needed. Team 7 spent the remainder of the day to heal up, Sakura providing Naruto with several salves that would relieve some of his soreness, and Sasuke needed a few stitches and bandaging, but nothing major. After awhile, they resumed their journey towards the tower.

* * *

With substantial aid from Kabuto, they managed to make it to the tower in one piece. The entered it to find what looked like an empty parlor. A scroll was on the wall. Sakura dictated it, and the Team set about determining what to do. Sasuke suggested opening the scrolls, and Sakura and Naruto couldn't see a reason not to.

They carefully laid the scrolls out, and they began to give off smoke. Team 7 jumped back, and out of a cloud of smoke came Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei?!" Each member of Team 7 said in unison. Iruka gave a happy wave and checked his watch.

"Thank Kami you guys just passed! Congratulations on passing the 2nd Test of the Chunin Selection Exam!

* * *

Post Notes:

I hope you guy's liked this chapter, I tried hard. Not as much humor and I kind of rushed it, because I really want to get to the prelims. In retrospect, I should have done this over a few chapters, but the second exam is my least favorite. This chapter was really tedious to write so it took me awhile to get it out, but now its done with. Not my favorite, but I hope you enjoy it.


	8. Chapter 7: Preliminary

Author's Notes:

Right. Let's not get into what exactly I've been doing. Let's just leave it at three words. School, fiancée, family. This chapter focuses on the prelims. I intended this chapter to be a more, but really, I figured that with Naruto's bloodline coming out, his fight wouldn't last more then a few seconds. So to avoid a plot hole, I just did what I figured worked. Here, after a long wait, is chapter 7.

* * *

Chapter 7:

Preliminary

* * *

Team 7 stood in front of Iruka relieved that they had passed. He began explaining the meaning of the poster in front of them, but they were barley listening. The second exam had left them worse for the wear and they looked it. Sasuke was exhausted from his use of the Curse Seal, Sakura was panting from lack of sleep and over-exertion, and Naruto, well; he was actually fine. He was bouncing around happily, lapsing in his emotional control for a victory celebration. Sasuke and Sakura stared at him, envious of his inhuman stamina. 

"So you see, if Naruto lacks 'Heaven', or strength of the mind, he should study and become smarter. Inversely, if Sakura lacks 'Earth', or strength of the body, she should head out onto the training fields and strengthen her body. Once someone has both, difficult missions become simple, even easy. This ideal is central to the way a Chunin must think." Iruka finished explaining. "Now hurry and head into the next chamber, the Hokage is going to speak to you about the next exam." He finished. Team 7 voiced their compliance and headed into the next room, meeting with the stares of the gathered Genin teams.

'So, the Rookie 9, the Sand, the Sound, Team Gai, and Kabuto's team all made it through. I wonder what the next test is…I hope I have enough strength for it, I don't want to drop any restraints just yet.' Naruto thought, sizing up his opponents. Outwardly, he simply acted cocky, happy, and energetic. No one was the wiser as to his musings.

"So you losers made it, even with the dobe! I hope you realize that a fancy outfit isn't going to help you beat me and Akamaru!" Kiba shouted.

"Kiba, you and that little _kitten_ won't be able to touch me!" Naruto responded.

"We'll make you see dobe! You are going to get torn to ribbons for that one!" Kiba growled out, angry about the 'kitten' comment.

"Perhaps you all should see what this exam is going to be **before** you rip each other into little pieces." A voice from behind the two suggested. Naruto whirred around, and behind him was his brother. "What's up? I'm going to be watching this next exam. Naruto, we need to speak after the Hokage delivers his speech. I felt what happened in the forest. Let me just check something, mold some chakra real quick." Kratos said.

"Okay…" Naruto did as he was asked, but found that he could mold only fractions of his usual amount, not nearly enough to execute any effective jutsu.

"Yeah, that's a problem…why can't you mold more chakra; I need to check to see if your body has acclimated your other system into the main chakra store yet." Kratos said.

"Well this guy from the forest did put this weird ass seal on me, hurt like hell and knocked me out." Naruto said.

"Seal? I see, whoever this was must have wanted to cut you off from your other system, and used a seal to siphon out that chakra. Let me have a look, I might be able to undo it. If it was really a Genin, they should have a rudimentary understanding at best, its astounding that one could do this much." Kratos said, taking a look at Naruto's stomach. Kratos looked puzzled for a moment before spreading his fingers out. As they began to glow blue, he thrust his hand into Naruto's stomach over the first seal, and said "Gogyō Kaiin!" Naruto screamed, but he felt his chakra rush through his system. This time however, it didn't stop after filling his coils. He felt extra power in him, everywhere, as a result of the other, larger chakra system.

"Damn, that hurt worse then your training, but I feel a hell of a lot stronger…what did you do?" Naruto asked.

"I unsealed the seal. Whoever did that was good…we'll talk more about this later. The Hokage is about to speak." Kratos said. He took his place on the right hand side of the Hokage, and the venerable Sandaime stepped forward.

"Congratulations, everyone, on advancing this far in the Chunin Selection Exam! This is a feat you all should be extremely proud of, as it is not easily accomplished. This next test will be the most difficult. Before it begins, I must explain to each of the true meaning of this exam, so that none of you suffer misconceptions or delusions about this. You are told that it is to promote "inter-village relations," but do not be fooled by such a simply euphemism. In reality, this test is a replacement for war." The Sandaime said. Several of the Genin gasped at this realization, and the Sandaime continued. "These exams…they are meant to show each village where they stand, how good other villages are, and they offer the village an opportunity to attract a great deal of clients, which translates to money, which translates to improvements in the condition of the village shinobi. Understand that not only is this a matter of gauging power and replacing wars, this is a matter of economics. This is why these exams are so important. Remember as you continue this exam that you represent your villages. Do so with pride, their futures may rest on your shoulders." Sandaime said, leaving several of the Genin awestruck, incapable of understanding the wisdom of his words. Naruto smiled, understanding that this was, essentially, a war between Genin. Hell, people had been killed in that last test that was for certain. The Sandaime was going to continue, but was stopped by the ever-sickly Gekkou Hayate.

"Hokage-sama, please, allow me to explain the rules of the next test." Gekkou said. The Hokage nodded his approval, and the sick man began to speak.

"This next test is actually going to be a preliminary, since too many of you passed. The third exam will be in front of an audience of many nobles from various countries, as well as the leaders of the villages that have participating Genin. It will take too long to have a full contest ladder for everyone, so we will eliminate people in one-on-one combat matches. These fights are anything goes, but if I stop the fight, that's it. Advice to combatants is allowed, but keep it minimal." Gekkou said, coughing his lungs out the whole way though. He gestured to the computer screens above the hand sculpture. "Those will randomly select your matches. Hopefully we get to see a few rivalries play out early." Gekkou said. "Now then, let's select the first fight…"

The screen came to life, scrolling through each of the contestants. The first screen stopped on Naruto. The second screen continued for a few more seconds, before stopping on, again, Naruto. The Hokage sighed, muttering the words "God damnit, not again…" Naruto stared at the screen questioningly, and made a Kage bunshin.

"Naruto-baka! It's a mistake, you are not going to fight yourself…" Sakura said.

"How in hell did he pass the first exam, much less finish it in 20 minutes?!" Ino said.

"Okay, sorry about that. Glitch in the system I guess." Gekkou said. Unbeknownst to everyone gathered, the Hokage had spent a fortune getting that system built. And every single time he attempted to use it, it bugged out, and the instruction manual inevitably instructed him to check the ventilation, check all plugs, trying other sockets, and sending a message to a support group, who never answered, except with some incredible irritating survey. The point being, it never got fixed. Now, in front several foreign shinobi, it was bugging out again. He started twitching.

"Hokage-sama, are you…okay?" Kurenai asked, concerned.

"THIS PIECE OF JUNK NEVER WORKS! DAMNIT! I KNOW! I'll do what I should have done a **_long_** time ago…yes…revenge…**_Katon: Karyū Endan_**!!" The Hokage shouted psychotically, the rage and hatred that the defective technology caused being too much for his elderly mind to contain. Kakashi quickly stopped the attack with a Suiton jutsu.

"Okay…let's try this again, and Hokage-sama, please don't destroy the match selector, although you did pay for it, we don't have a back up method prepared. Right here we go." Gekkou said, and the screen began to filter through the various combatants before stopping on Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi. "Will everyone save for Sasuke and Yoroi please head up to the 2nd floor. Thank you." Gekkou said. Before heading to the upper level, Kakashi told Sasuke to avoid using his Sharingan, and that, should the curse seal become active, he would stop the fight. "Combatants, whenever you're ready." Gekkou said. Sasuke and Yoroi both slipped into a combat stance. "Ready?" Gekkou asked. Both fighters nodded. "HAJIME!" Gekkou yelled, and the two went at each other.

Sasuke came in with a sweep to Yoroi's legs, but he jumped over it and threw several kunai under him. Sasuke dodged them and delivered an uppercut to Yoroi, but it was caught before it could hit. Sasuke pulled his hand back and was going to attack again when Yoroi grabbed his other arm. It was then that Sasuke noticed several things that were very odd. The first was that he was feeling a lot more tired then he ought to. The second was that the seal that had granted him power wasn't activating on its own. As for the latter, he would experiment later, but the former concerned him. Two simple attacks wouldn't drain him, and he hadn't used any jutsu.

"I see you've noticed it." Yoroi said. He tried to roundhouse Sasuke, who ducked.

"Noticed what?" Sasuke said, not wanting to reveal any weakness.

"Your chakra…it's being drained. It's my bloodline." Yoroi said plainly.

Up on the 2nd floor, the Rookie 9 was watching intently. Kakashi was also watching the battle closely, concerned for his student.

'He can't use his chakra or the curse seal will take over, it's a good thing he hasn't tried a jutsu yet. But that Yoroi, he can drain it. This isn't good…' Kakashi thought. Then he looked over to Naruto, who wasn't even watching the fight. Naruto was sitting next to Kratos, simply talking. 'Baka…he should watch these matches….'

Naruto was in fact playing out each fight in his head. His mother had apparently provided Kratos with the match-ups. Having a goddess around who can see the future is really helpful. He was trying to advance his eyes by correctly seeing the outcome of each fight. In his mind, the fight between Sasuke and Yoroi was already over. Sasuke won it by ripping off Rock Lee to some degree and using a Taijutsu combo. Naruto looked over to the arena to see his prediction come true.

"Brother, I did it! I saw the entire thing!" Naruto said excitedly.

"Good, you're getting better. Keep doing that, and hopefully your speed at using your other sight will improve." Kratos said. Sasuke came up to the pair and passed them with an air of arrogance, and headed to Kakashi, who promptly took him away to fix the seal.

"Okay, next fight is…" Gekkou said as the screens began to cycle through the gathered Genin. The screen stopped on Aburame Shino and Zaku. They both went down to the first floor, and readied themselves. Zaku's arm was in a sling, but it didn't seem to bother him much. "HAJIME!" Gekkou called out, and the fight was on.

Zaku rushed forward with his free arm. Shino caught it.

"You won't be able to beat me with one arm." He said.

"SHUT UP! TAKE THIS! ZANKUUHA!" Zaku said, and a massive blast of air shot out of his arm. Shino went flying and landed across the arena, looking pretty worse for wear.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was finishing up the sealing of the curse seal. "That seal relies on your will Sasuke. Don't let your will falter, or that seal will take you over." Kakashi said. Sasuke nodded, then fell over, exhausted.

"My, how you have grown Kakashi. Sealing jutsu eh?" A voice said. Kakashi whirred around to see Orochimaru standing there.

"Orochimaru…" Kakashi said nervously.

"Yes. You really are lucky you know…that eye of yours…I want one too. And the boy…he is my key to those eyes." Orochimaru said. "Because you see…I have an ambition. The new village of Otogakure, its mine."

"Foolish. It can't be done." Kakashi said.

"Maybe not by a human." Orochimaru said.

Back at the preliminaries, Zaku was laughing as Shino got up. Then Zaku got a good look at Shino. Bugs were crawling out of skin. Zaku went wide eyed.

"Turn around." Shino said simply. Zaku looked behind him to see an army of bugs behind him. "Those bugs eat chakra. If you use that air attack of yours, they will attack, and make you unfit to be a shinobi. Give up, it is your only viable tactical option. You were unwise to reveal your trump card so quickly." Shino said.

On the 2nd level, Shikamaru was beginning to consider Shino as a good opponent. Ino was ranting on about creepy bug people, and he interjected. "Creepy or not, he is right. In chess, a smart player keeps the queen back, waiting for the right moment." Shikamaru then turned his attention back to the match.

"What…DAMN YOU!" Zaku yelled. "I'll show you a trump card!" He said, ripping his other arm from its sling. Shino simply stared on apathetically. "Zankuuha!" Zaku shouted, both of his arms aimed at Shino. Then his arms were blown off.

"I ordered my bugs to clog your air holes. That is a trump card. You should have listened." Shino said, before walking away. Gekkou declared him the winner.

"What are you smiling about, niisan?" Naruto asked his brother.

"That Shino, he understands. He knows what it means to be a warrior. He's good. What do you know about him?" Kratos asked.

"Not much, he's the silent type. All I know is general knowledge about the Aburame clan." Naruto said.

"Keep your eye on him." Kratos said.

"Gotcha." Naruto said. He knew that if Kratos admired the way someone fought, they were bound to grow very powerful.

The next match was a short one. Kankuro and Kabuto's other partner Misumi were up. Kankuro took his bundle of bandages off his back, but Misumi came in first. He literally wrapped his body around Kankuro, wrapping his arms around the neck.

"I'll break your neck if you don't give up." Misumi said.

"Heh…go ahead." Kankuro responded. A snap was heard, and Gekkou was about to declare Misumi the winner, until Kankuro's face started to fall apart, revealing the freaky puppet underneath. "My turn!" Kankuro said. He appeared on the edge of the combat floor, and the puppet wrapped itself around Misumi. "I'll break every bone in that flexible body of yours…I'll ease up on the neck though." Kankuro said before crushing Misumi.

"Damn, I'm glad I didn't call that one." Gekkou said. "Alright, you win. Next match is…" Gekkou said, and the screens began to spin, stopping on Ino and Sakura. "Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, get down here." They both went down to the floor looking determined, furious, and ready to kill. Their expressions would have made even Hera, the long proclaimed psycho-bitch of the Gods, wet herself in fear. They each cycled through all of a thousand memories of their long and bitter rivalry, and of their former friendship. They each slipped into a starting stance, and the match started. Sakura performed the Bunshin no jutsu, and rushed forward. Ino simply smirked, not daunted by the mere academy jutsu.

"Ino, if you think I'm still cry-baby Sakura…you are going to lose!" Sakura said, then exploded off the ground and into Ino. Her right fist hit Ino dead on, knocking her back. Ino shrugged off the blow and got up.

"Glad you told me so. I won't hold back." Ino said. The two leapt at each other, matching punch with punch. Blow after blow was cancelled out, and the fight wore on. Each attack was met with an equal strike, neither kunoichi gaining any ground. After a while, both combatants looked ready to drop. "Damnit, there's no way you could be even with me!" Ino said.

"Even? Hell no, not with someone who obsesses over herself!" Sakura shot back.

"You'd better stop disrespecting me!" Ino said. She cut off her hair, much to the dismay of those who knew her. "I'll make you give up!" She said, her hands forming a seal.

Up on the second floor, Shikamaru was concerned. The Shintenshin was only useful in conjunction with his Kage Mane, as least in battle. He tried to yell for her to stop, but she fired the technique.

Ino went limp, and Sakura gloated. Her victory induced elation was cut short when Ino's hair of all things grabbed onto her legs, locking her in place. Up on the stands, Kratos was laughing. Kakashi looked over, wondering what was humorous.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"It's just that your student, for all her brilliance, doesn't understand ANYTHING about combat. In fact, almost none of your Genin know the truth. Well, two do. Both on your team." Kratos responded. The other Genin were naturally offended.

"Yeah? So what do Naruto and Sasuke know that we don't?" Kiba asked.

"Simple. When you fight, you need to forget everything. Joy, sorrow, pain, it all has to go away. In a fight, your only concern is to win, whatever that entails. What she did there…she let her emotions make her weak. Emotions grant strength, but only when they are used correctly. You need to train to control them. If they get in the way of your ability to kill your opponent, then they are useless. It may seem heartless, but that's war. If that had been my fight, I wouldn't have assumed I won until her head was a few yards away from her neck." Kratos said darkly. The other Genin (including Naruto) exchanged nervous glances. Kratos looked over, seeing that he had put them off wits, and scoffed. "Look, if anyone hates it, its me. I hate killing my humanity, but its necessary. Any shinobi who doesn't understand how to do that…is pointless. Granted, its easier for Naruto and I due to our…well I'm sure you'll all see. Kiba…you might want to get your sister over here. She's a vet right?"

"Uuh….yeah….but no one could beat me and Akamaru!" He said.

"That attitude will get you both killed." Kratos said.

As Kratos lectured on the fundamental elements of being a killer, Sakura's split personality disorder managed to scrape a draw. Hinata went up against Neji, but that fight ended quick, the prodigy leaving his cousin a wreck on the arena floor. Naruto swore to kick the shit out of the pale eyed nihilistic bastard. The next match of any interest was Rock Lee VS. Gaara. Naruto watched it with particular intensity. Gaara's sand blocked virtually every attack thrown at it. Naruto figured that one would simply blast it with enough heat and glass it using a Katon jutsu, but for Rock Lee, that wasn't an option. Eventually, Lee figured out that he couldn't get past that guard. He leapt up onto the statue and removed something from his legs.

"Weights…this might turn around." Naruto said. When Lee dropped them to the floor, it created a large enough crater to impress most of the audience. Lee took off and battered Gaara's shield, nearly getting through it. Kakashi unveiled his Sharingan to watch the fight, but he noticed something far more abnormal. Naruto could follow Lee's movements, despite the fact that his eyes weren't activated.

"Naruto…you can see him can't you." Kakashi said. Naruto flinched. He didn't want any of the Genin to know just how much he could divine, with or without his bloodline. Kratos had trained every part of his body, both with physical training and hyper-loading his body with nutrients and proteins.

"Umm…no?" He answered lamely. Damage done, the other Genin would be on guard, and would avoid a straightforward attack.

Meanwhile, Rock Lee was actually managing to hit the sand user, but was denied results yet again, this time by armor made up of sand which was attached to Gaara's skin. He managed to crack it, but then Gaara went psycho. He used his sand to catch Lee off guard and swatted him like a fly. Lee got up again and went of the Primary Lotus. He pulled it off, but it didn't knockout Gaara. He was on his last legs, as everyone present could tell. Kratos had his suspicions that the fight wasn't over.

The Secondary Lotus surprised even him. He never needed any Gates, so he never bothered learning to use them, but Kratos immediately regretted that decision. He made a mental note to learn it and teach it to Naruto. The second the thing he noticed was the Lee's Iron Fist style was actually a lesser version of a much more powerful style.

Lee kept at it, hitting Gaara again and again, but it wasn't enough. Nothing seemed to be able to take him down. Eventually, the damage done by the Gates took it's toll, and Gaara caught him by the arm with the sand coffin. Gaara mercilessly crushed his arm and leg. Kratos looked on and nodded.

"As sick and demented as that kid is…he's a true shinobi. He'll do whatever it takes to win…at least from what I can tell. He reminds me of Seth though…kid's a killer, no doubt." Kratos said. "Naruto…after this, your training steps up." Naruto gulped.

Eventually Naruto's match came, but he already knew who it would be long before the board told him. Kiba was whooping about how easy it would be. Naruto heard every word, and it was starting to get him a little ticked.

"Ignore it….ignore it…remember to stay clam…" Naruto said under his breath, trying to maintain a calm collected composure. Just before the match started, Kiba sealed his fate.

"You know something…a dead last like you could never beat me, much less be Hokage. I'm way better, maybe I'll take the job! Anyone would be better then you!" Kiba said.

Kratos was shacking his head. Kakashi was too. Kakashi was doing so because he was afraid that Kiba's juvenile trash talking would knock out Naruto's composure and make him fight worse. As for losing his composure, Kratos was worried about that, but it wasn't Naruto he was worried for. When he saw Naruto's pupils seemingly expand to cover his entire eye, he knew it was over.

As soon as the fight started, Naruto shot forward, not at Kiba, but at Akamaru. He grabbed the dog by its neck, holding it above the arena. Instead of trying to force Kiba to give up, he slammed the dog with all his force into the ground. Naruto looked at Kiba, and Kiba was pissed, but the rage on his face was nothing compared to what Naruto was experiencing.

In his mind, every single taunt, jibe, and painful moment he had ever been subjected too was blamed on Kiba. He didn't think about how to beat him, or even about what Kiba could do to respond. He went from human being to an killing automaton set to mutilate Kiba.

Everyone had a look of some shock when Naruto's hair changed color. Kiba shot forward, wanting to avenge his partner.

"Bastard! You'll pay! GATSUUGA!" Kiba yelled, launching into an extremely powerful attack.

Naruto looked at it coming. He saw where to move, where to grab, so that he could pull Kiba right out of his spin. He side stepped the tornado, and reached into it. With a sickening snap, he halted Kiba's spin, breaking the shinobi's arm. He just looked at his opponent.

"What…what the hell….this…this isn't you…" Kiba said, scared. Naruto started to speak, struggling to do so through blind rage.

"You….every moment…my life….YOUR FAULT!" Naruto screamed. "YOU…YOU'LL PAY!" Naruto said. He drew one of his blades and stabbed Kiba through his broken arm, then activated the lightning seal in his blade. Kiba screamed in pain. "NOT ENOUGH PAIN! YOU DESERVE MORE!!!"

At this point, the judge had seen enough, and tried to step in. Kratos beat him to it, grabbing Naruto and forcing him down. It took even him twenty minutes to subdue the superhuman power granted by sheer rage. Akamaru's body was a wreck, and Kiba's arm wouldn't have any movement for a month at least. Kratos just looked over and muttered "God damn idiot…" before walking away.

The matches for the finals were set, and Neji found himself actually scarred. If that kind of hatred was directed at him…he was screwed. Kratos realized he was going to have to teach Naruto much better control. Upon inspecting his body, he realized that Naruto's slip into rage had done a number on the kid. Of course, he hadn't noticed, but in order to use his power again, he had to toughen his body.

"Mai Tai it is…damn kid I was hoping I wouldn't have to teach it to you…" Kratos said, rubbing his shin, "cause it hurts like hell…"

* * *

Post Notes: 

Mai Tai is an actual martial art by the way, although it's really more of a training style. By the way, read my other story, it was inspired by one of the greatest movies of all time, _The Crow_.


	9. Chapter 8: Hell Month, Part 1

Author's Notes:

About the last chapter, I've gotten about 5 different spellings for Muai Thai (that's the one I'm going by). I'm sorry about the error. So on to the future, I re-thought my pairing with Aphrodite. It just doesn't feel right anymore, even though I haven't written it up, so once again, the pairing is undecided, although it will most likely be an OC. If enough people say they want different, so it shall be. Sorry to those of you looking forward to that pairing, but it just seems odd to me. By the way, I AM NOT DOING A NARUTO AND HINATA PAIRING. Honestly, too damn many. I'm like reading them, but I don't think I'd enjoy creating that relationship when it's been done so many times over. Also, future events in this story will make every single one of you hate me. Trust me, everything turns out good…unless I decided to go Greek tragedy, but I don't think I'll be doing that. Anyway, please enjoy the beginning Naruto's training in this installment of Heirs of the Warrior!

* * *

Chapter 8:

Hell Month Part I

* * *

_"You…every moment…my life….YOUR FAULT!" Naruto screamed. "YOU…YOU'LL PAY!" Naruto said. He drew one of his blades and stabbed Kiba through his broken arm, then activated the lightning seal in his blade. Kiba screamed in pain. "NOT ENOUGH PAIN! YOU DESERVE MORE!!!"_

Naruto awoke from his nightmare, sweating. 'That couldn't have been me…it couldn't have been…sure Kiba is a bit of a jack ass, but I'm not like that! What…why am I seeing this…' Naruto stopped questioning his dream after a short while, moving on to the mystery of how he arrived at a hospital. He looked over and saw Kratos sleeping in a chair.

"Mmm.." Kratos mumbled as he awoke. "Awake huh? Sorry about the head ache, I had to knock you out. What Kiba said…that must've hurt. I wanted to kill him myself. It managed to piss you off enough that…well…the bright side is you unlocked your bloodline! If that is a good thing anyway…" Kratos said, murmuring the last part, but Naruto heard it nonetheless.

"What do you mean _bright_ side? There's a down side? How could this be a bad thing?" Naruto asked.

"Believe me…there are repercussions. C'mon, I need some coffee." Kratos said.

"I think ever since you started eating there, Ichikaru started serving coffee." Naruto said. It had fast become a village myth that the Demon-brat and the mercenary could stomach inhuman amounts of ramen. Of course, Kratos didn't frequent the place as often as Naruto did, but he occasionally did. His addiction to caffeine and never-ending appetite were enough to encourage restaurants to stock anything with the miracle-drug in it.

"Good, let's get a move on. You're not the only one whose head hurts. And your going to want something to cheer you up. First though…you need to see what you can do with your new power…" Kratos said. Naruto quickly changed out of his hospital gown, and into a set of clothes Kratos had brought for him. Kratos led him to the intensive care ward, and into Kiba's room.

A nurse was their attending to him. She took one look at Naruto and freaked.

"GET THAT DAMN DEMON AWAY FROM MY PATIENT!! HE'S THE ONE THAT DID THIS!" the nurse screamed.

Kratos gave her a stare that could freeze beer. "Listen very carefully. Call my brother a demon again, and I'll do far worse to you. What happened to this boy, he had it coming, excessive though this may be. Naruto couldn't control himself. A bloodline kicked in. I brought my brother here as a part of a lesson he needs to learn to control it. Unless you WANT him to go berserk all the time that is." He said. The nurse froze up, nodded, and continued her check up. "Naruto…your bloodline, like mine, is advanced beyond what it would be for a normal human. It took _me_ twenty minutes to knock you out in a way that wouldn't severely hurt you. I'll explain why this happened over coffee, but you need to see for yourself what this can do if you fail to control it." Kratos said.

Naruto took his time reading over the damage done to Kiba. There was a good chance his arm was fried, permanently. He had lost an extremely large amount of blood, and he would need some serious physical therapy before he could be considered a candidate for even D rank missions. In short, Naruto totaled him. Naruto would have given anything to be able to apologize to Kiba, but Kratos' next words helped a little.

"I wouldn't worry about him hating you forever. I explained what happened to his parents. Luckily, they weren't idiotic bigots like the nurse here. They were a little tweaked at first, but they understand. I suppose coming from a family that is naturally inclined to give in to anger, I suppose they can empathize."

"But still…what if I…what if I took away his future as a shinobi…how could I do this?"

"C'mon bro…you need a lift. Let's go get breakfast." Kratos said.

* * *

Later, at Naruto's favorite ramen stand, Kratos began to explain Naruto's bloodline. "First off, what you did. You focused every single bad memory, every bit of pain in your life, all onto Kiba. For the duration of that fight, he was the thing you hated most in the world. Now, what you did to activate this power…focusing it on hurting someone…it comes out as uncontrolled, unbridled fury. That is what you need to control. Your anger, your rage, you need to rationalize it away. We'll be working on this over the month in preparation for the finals. I guess you figured it out after seeing Kiba, but…it worked. Now, I mentioned repercussions…Naruto, did you know that until I met Artemis, I was an insomniac?" Naruto shook his head. "I had nightmares Naruto. Still do. This power has this side affect. You remember everything perfectly, sound, feelings, the whole thing, not just images. And worse, its usually embellished to make it look even worse. You run through each and ever second that your using that power in your dreams. For the sadistic, I'm sure that would be heaven, but for those of us who have some humanity, its overwhelming. For your sake as much as others, you need to learn to control it. Otherwise you'll have an episode like I did…one you might not come out of." Kratos said. 

"What the hell happened to you? All I get are vague hints and 'He'll tell you when he's ready.' What's the big secret?!" Naruto said.

"Little off-topic. I'll tell you some other time. I'd rather not re-live a past I'm trying to forget." Kratos said with a grim, sorrowful look on his face.

"Meh. Fine… So what do I have to do to get control of the psychotic rage thingy?" Naruto said, slurping down his 16th bowl of ramen.

Kratos twitched. "**Thingy**? What the hell, I know you know what it is…and you call something like this a **thingy**…what are you, 12?"

"13 actually. Close to 14 though." Naruto responded. (AN: I do not care if this is true or not. This is my choice.)

"Still! C'mon man…it's the **Kazama** bloodline! The bloodline of the **Yondaime**! Not that that means much to me, it's more that he was our Dad really. Nonetheless, you get the point." Kratos said. Naruto and his brother continued to discuss his rather poor diction, turning heads as they walked back to their home.

* * *

After several minutes of desperately trying to get Naruto to make some use of his vocabulary, they finally arrived at their home. Naruto sat down by the lake and looked around, noticing something was off. Then he noticed that the nine-tailed demonic fox that had been reduced to the Kazama family pet was missing. Or at least missing until it pounced on poor Naruto. 

"I love doing that!" Kyuubi said gleefully. Naruto tried to grab the fox, but the fox disappeared. Naruto stood up and did a double-take.

"Huh?" Naruto looked around. Kratos was laughing his ass off. "What's so funny?" Naruto asked. Kratos pointed to his head. Sitting on top of it was a tiny, baby-like fox. "Chibi-fox…nine tails…are you kidding me…" Naruto said.

"Hey, the females of your species love this. They always scratch right behind my ears. I love that." Kyuubi said, his squeaky voice courtesy of his reduced size. As he spoke Artemis walked in with a dead rabbit. Kyuubi changed size again and grabbed it.

"Hey hon…how did Naruto do?" Artemis said, asking more to be polite. Naruto was too much like the rest of his family to fail.

"Err…he unlocked his bloodline." Kratos said. The color left Artemis' face.

"Oh…you okay kid?" She asked. Naruto nodded, although his gaze went to the floor. Artemis walked up and gave him a soft hug before leaving to go find something else for target practice.

"Right…Naruto I know I worked your ass off the last time I told you that your training was going to step up. You saw what that Neji kid can do though. He might be a total jack ass, but he has the right attitude about a fight, and he can do serious damage. His eyes don't see as well as ours, but yours are only just developing, and as such, you're about equal in terms of your vision, but you know the rules. You must always assume that your opponent is better then you until you can definitively say otherwise. Given your current situation, what do you intend to do?" Kratos asked.

"No…please tell me it's going to be easier…" Naruto said.

"Umm…no. It's going to take you straight down to Hades. Literally." Kratos responded.

"YOUR GOING TO KILL ME?!" Naruto shouted.

"What? No. We're going to go deal with something. I have a bit of an agenda you see. Not that much different from your own really. Anyway, you don't have to worry about that until much later. Let me run down your month of pain and misery for you. First off, you're doing everything blind-folded. Not just training either. You are going to rely entirely on your second sight and senses. As for the regimen itself, I'm going to play it by year. It'll follow the same basic principles, but I'll make changes. I need to do a little spying before I make any definitive changes. Now, for your control…it's the only easy exercise, although keeping your control is never going to be. All you need to do is constantly calm yourself. Meditate before you go to sleep and when you wake up. Eat quickly when you go out with your friends, and then meditate while they finish up. **You must do this as often as possible.** At least until I take you to meet him…

"Him?" Naruto asked.

"Just this really…relaxed person I know. One of my teachers. He lives a very long way away. He's doesn't like to fight, but if he ever does…he matches me at my usual level. Anyway, once you get past certain…quirks…he's a pretty cool guy." Kratos said.

"No names?" Naruto said.

"He changes it every now and then. He doesn't like conformity, you see. That's why he completely and totally abandoned society. I'll let you in on a secret…the instrument I claim to have invented, the one I taught you to play…he's the guy who first figured out the mechanics. I just put shit together."

"Ah cool. So…do I get one day off before training?" Naruto said.

"Well I have a few errands to run. Let's go find pinky." Kratos said.

Naruto and Kratos spent the better part of the day looking for Sakura, only to find her with Sasuke and Kakashi. Naruto ran up to them. Kratos said he would catch up later, realizing this must be some kind of team meeting.

"Meeting? Sorry I missed it." Naruto said.

"Dobe…" Sasuke started.

"I guess I forgot to tell you. Sorry about that." Kakashi said, his eyes smiling in place of his mouth. Naruto sweat-dropped. Sasuke, who wasn't happy about being interrupted, grabbed Naruto by the collar.

"I heard what you did to Kiba. _How did you get that power?_ "Sasuke said, he voice seething rage. He remembered the rush he'd gotten from the seal. He knew he could match it with that, but he also knew that the seal was self-damaging.

"I don't want to talk about it. I…I'm not proud of that victory." Naruto said. The meeting went on, ending when Kakashi basically announced that Sakura and Naruto could basically go screw themselves, they weren't worth his time, and that he'd rather spend time on Sasuke. Naruto didn't really care, seeing as he didn't plan on getting anything from Kakashi no matter what happened.

"Hey…Naruto…what happened with Kiba anyway?" Sakura asked.

"I hurt him. He might lose an arm. His dog isn't much better off, but at least the dog will eventually be able to fight. But don't think for a minute that I wanted too." Naruto said.

"He forced you too? In the fight I mean."

"No…look I don't want to talk about it alright?" Naruto said.

"Okay…" Sakura said, for once showing genuine concern. Her opinion about Naruto had changed. She didn't love him by any means, but she was starting to see something in him. An after seeing Sasuke ruthlessly break a person's arms and laugh about it, she found herself glad that Naruto regretted his actions. "Hey…Naruto…do you think…I could train with you and your brother?"

"You wouldn't survive it. The way he runs things, only a demi-god could. But I'll ask him to get you a trainer." Naruto said. (A/N: I want to be very clear. THIS IS NOT A NARU SAKU. I just want them to be friends.)

* * *

Kratos dropped by about half an hour later. He realized he still needed to get Sakura a teacher for the blade-tonfas he forged. He took them to the Myrmidon's compound, which was located outside of Konoha (although not far from it). What had began as a few hastily erected huts ended up looking like another village entirely. The difference was instead of shops, restaurants, hotels, and the average citizens of ordinary villages, the only people here where battle-hardened, tough as steel nails warriors. Kratos led them on through the compound, pointing out various training courses, fields, what buildings where, etc. The compound was actually entirely self-sufficient; Konoha's funds were nothing more then a luxury, but one that Kratos explained he was grateful for. Previously, a very large portion of the money he raked in was put just for food and housing. That money was now being put toward better equipment, training facilities, etc. In addition, it left his men with more time to pursue their hobbies. Sakura, however, noticed something odd. 

"Kratos-sama, there isn't a single woman here, at least not that I can tell…why?" Sakura asked.

"Don't get offended…it's just that the Myrmidons have extremely difficult physical requirements. Its members need to be beyond peak physical condition…each person here could handle any ANBU squad. The training routine has nearly killed plenty. We never let it get to death though. The point is, nature kind of gave women a disadvantage. Not that this can't be overcome. It's just common that men have greater natural strength and chakra reserves. Granted, women have greater control, but having enough raw chakra and stamina is more important to a recruit anyway."

Sakura felt slightly offended, but when she thought about it, she realized that he was correct. She had often noticed that her reserves where far weaker then the males of the Rookie Nine. However, upon further reflection, she realized that in terms of basic physical ability, males had the better build. She did, however, want to point out a few counter-examples, if nothing else then for the sake of defending her gender. "Kratos-san, what about the Sennin Tsunade? She's supposed to have mammoth strength, reserves, and control. She's also an excellent doctor."

"I remember her. She and Ophelos go way back or something. Admittedly, she's almost as strong as Taurus, and that's saying a lot. But she's also a hopeless drunk, suffers from an extreme case of hemophobia, and in addition to all this, she doesn't take orders too well. None of the Sennin do. Of them, Jiraiya is the only one I would consider fit to be a Myrmidon. Orochimaru might be stronger, but he's also completely insane. Jiraiya has his faults, granted, but they are harmless enough…to me at least."

"What do you mean by 'faults'?" Sakura asked.

"Well, if he isn't the god of perverts, he's the head priest. Plus…" Kratos continued listing Jiraiya's many less admirable qualities. Of course, this caused a poor old man in a bathhouse to sneeze, causing a variety of women to notice a peek hole, and finally leading to a stampede of exceedingly pissed of women clad in towels. Kratos, Naruto, and Sakura, were not present for this. They had arrived at the training compound where Sakura's teacher was. "You'll like her. Good friend of mine. She's running the course."

"But I thought you said women usually don't make the cut." Sakura said.

"I said _generally_ they don't. Jade is unusual. There's a monitoring station from which we can track her progress in the course. Let's check it out." Kratos said. A small tower gave a perfect view over and into the maze-like course, which had several levels. Jade, a girl roughly Kratos' age with dark green hair, was cutting down enemy after enemy on the third floor. "She isn't using any jutsu because she rarely needs them for her missions. In fact, she only undergoes this kind of training for full scale war scenarios, where she could be needed for defense. She's an assassination specialist. That armor she's wearing, she isn't using it, but it has a kind of shroud effect, makes you harder to see in the dark."

Jade was truly stunning. She lept off walls, enemies, and even weapons, displaying a level of dexterity that overshot any kunoichi Sakura had ever seen. Jade's skill with her weapons was masterful; she maneuvered them perfectly, stabbing right through the bodies most vital points without the victim knowing they'd been touched. Still, the third floor seemed to give her some trouble. Naruto and Sakura both assumed this was because she was used to engaging ten, maybe twelve targets at most, and usually without them knowing beforehand. In this scenario, she had thirty surrounding her at any given time, all of whom were armed to the teeth and extremely well armored. Naturally, for an assassin that was a rather precarious situation to be in. Despite the disadvantages, she managed to fight to the stairway, but, realizing the next stage would be too difficult for her, she stopped.

"Kratos, what's that difficulty level of the course?" Naruto asked.

"That depends on the floor. However, the entire thing is set to a Myrmidon standard. Level 1 is for recruits, 2 is for what I suppose would be a Chunin to us, 3 being for Jounin and ANBU. I guess 4 is about Sennin level, 5 being for me, and only for me." Kratos said.

"Why just for you?" Naruto asked.

"Well, it used to be open access like the rest of the course, but after I lost one of my best lieutenants to it because he took a bet…I decided I'd rather not give people the chance to be idiots." Kratos said. Jade walked up to them, looking tired.

"Kratos! How did I do?" She asked jovially.

"Good, you cleared the floor this time. I think if you would consider picking up another weapon or fighting style, you could start trying the fourth. By the way, your supposed to have a spotter, in case you go down. Those might just be shadow clones your fighting, but they can and will kill you alright? I don't want you to get pasted." Kratos said.

"You mean he left!? Damnit Silas! I'm going to kill you…"

"Whoa, chill. I'll deal with him alright? I want you to take on a student. Teach her how to use tonfas. Also, her chakra capacity is extremely low. There's no rush, so don't kill her to do it, but don't let her relax either." Kratos said. Sakura and Jade quickly introduced themselves, and Jade immediately began drilling Sakura on some basic skills. Kratos saw this, and smiled before dragging Naruto away.

* * *

Naruto's training began the next day. At four in the morning, he was awoken but Kratos, who had chugged three pots of coffee. Industrial Sized. With 50 percent more coffee. As such, Kratos was beginning to wake up. Naruto, on the other hand, did not share Kratos' astounding ability to consume abhorrent amounts of caffeinated beverages in little to no time whatsoever. Naruto had to be awoken violently as he was chucked out of the window of his bedroom, because Kratos decided it would be good to test his reflexes. In actuality, Kratos did not feel like walking through the whole mansion. Kratos led Naruto out to a forest area. Upon arriving, Naruto noticed that the area contained a latticework of bamboo pieces, most of which were rather short. 

"Naruto, I am going to teach you a style of fighting called Muai Thai. While our family styles will benefit you more in combat, the training for this will turn you into a tank. My hard skin exists partially because of this training. Basically, your going attack these pieces of bamboo, and try to break them."

"But that's easy!" Naruto said. "Shinobi break things like this for fun. Give me something harder to hit."

"Naruto, shinobi are taught to push chakra into their arms and legs. That makes you able to smash through things with ease that an ordinary person could not. So for this exercise, in fact, unless I say otherwise, you are to force yourself not to do this. Chakra is a good tool Naruto, but without being able to fight without it, it's more of a crutch."

"Meh, whatever. I can break these wimpy pieces of bamboo, chakra or not." Naruto walked up to one and tried to strike it with his fist. His punch did nothing except cause Naruto to howl in pain.

"Bamboo is extremely strong Naruto. I want you to try breaking these with your shins and lower and upper arms. Oh, for the arms and legs, I want all sides of the limb. You can also break them with your head if you like. One more thing, the blindfold." Kratos simply lowered Naruto's hitai-ate over his eyes. "Do not take this off unless I say so. Now, get going. I want at least one broken stick when I get back here, and if you aren't bruised and hurting, you will be."

"Where are you going?" Naruto asked.

"Breakfast."

"Bastard."

"Yeah, I am." Kratos said as he walked away. Naruto began by trying to use his second sight to see where he should go, but it didn't work. So Naruto instead worked his way around by simply walking around with his hands out until he found a stick at the right height, and he had at it.

* * *

When Kratos came back at eight, Naruto's arms were black. And he was still going at it. He had managed to break two in the time he had, Kratos honestly had not expected him to keep going after breaking one. 'Damn…he just keeps going, and going, and going, and going.' Kratos thought before shouting "Take it easy bro, good work. Here, I brought you your breakfast." Naruto grimaced at the bowl of paste he knew he was handed, but ate it nonetheless. 

The rest of the day was dedicated to Naruto learning how to focus his chakra to form a perfectly straight needle of varying length. Kratos figured that by learning a more advanced version of the Hyuuga's Jyuuken attacks, he would be able to not only throw the arrogant bastards a surprise, but also completely dominate any Hyuuga he would meet in the future. Of course, Naruto failed miserably to form a needle, but he admirably persisted. Naruto had actually begun to grasp the level of chakra control needed by dinner. He had skipped lunch for the sake of training.

Dinner was peaceful for Naruto, although his mother, Kyuubi, and Artemis complained incessantly of the smell of the ointment Kratos had given Naruto for his arms. It had hurt like hell to rub it in, but it worked miracles. However, the events after dinner would be woven into a tapestry of legends already in the making.

Kyuubi asked to speak to Naruto and Kratos that evening, outdoors. Kyuubi had been pondering how to repay to the two for their kindness towards him as well as the incredible debt he already owed for the damage he had done. Kratos had a fair idea Kyuubi intended to do something of the sort, but had no clue as to how far Kyuubi would take it. However, upon arrival, he realized what Kyuubi wanted to attempt. On the ground was an extremely large, very complicated series of circles, all of which were contained in yet another, larger circle.

"A gateway?" Naruto realized after having the scene described to him by Kratos, and connected his education on gate that held back the greater Titans to what he was hearing about.

"No, Naruto, this isn't a gateway. These circles can be used to do more then merely connect a pocket dimension to our own. However, the knowledge of how to use them and make them is restricted to immortals. You will find, Naruto, that the Gods are not particularly fond of our kind."

"Humans?"

"Half-breeds. Mixes of human beings and gods. Most Gods fear us, simply because they think that we value our human heritage over our deity heritage. As such, they think that if humans ever chose to rebel against their creators for whatever reason, they think we will side with them. This is all hypothetical of course."

"But a half-god can't challenge an immortal!" Naruto said.

"Of course we can. It's been done. Hercules is the reason the God's fear us. He's nice enough, but he was powerful. The Gods were relieved when he became one of them, because they saw him as an extreme threat. I'm not yet as strong as he is now, but I'm stronger then he was, at least in terms of fighting. They fear me, and as soon as word spreads of you, Naruto, they will fear you too."

"Are the Gods really so short sighted?"

"It's mostly the lesser gods, but Ares shares their opinion. Then again, the other leaders think he's a total psycho anyway." Kratos said. "Where is that damn furball anyway…"

"Right here." Kyuubi said, appearing out of nowhere, scarring the hell out of Naruto.

"So what is all this, furball?" Naruto asked.

"These circles are designed to help me give a gift to you both. Kratos, your power exceeds my former strength, and your skills are unmatched. Naruto, you will grow to share this strength, this I know. But I can help both of you greatly. Kratos, I want you both to have my power. If you will return it to me, the circles will immediately transfer an amount equal to my strength to each of you. The side effects will be numerous. Amongst other things, it will slightly alter your cellular structure to match with certain…characteristics of a Titan. That's nothing noticeable though. Noticeable changes will include an extreme enhancement of your senses, and your physical strength, dexterity, and speed. You'll have a slightly larger appetite, and a larger sex drive. In addition to this, I'm throwing in a few other perks. I'm giving you a half demon form. I don't know what it will look like, but it will provide more efficient use of my energy. The energy of Titans is different from that of humans, but its still interchangeable, there's just more wasted. By changing your body so that it incorporates demonic, or Titanic, elements, this is overcome. You also get access to a few…vaults that I have. Lots of great junk in them. So, Kratos, do you trust me enough to give me back my power for a moment?"

"Ah what the hell, why not. It's not like I couldn't beat you down again anyway." Kratos released Kyuubi's power, and the circle began to glow. Kratos and Naruto both instantly started screaming bloody murder. Naruto was knocked unconscious after a bit, his body wasn't used to the kind of power he had just received. Kratos did not receive such a mercy due to his already mammoth chakra stores. Although it was still nearly double his current power, that was not enough strain on his body to knock him out, so he was forced to endure excruciating pain as Kyuubi's circles mutated his body. Eventually, he too fell unconscious, but not before one moment after the pain stopped where one thought permeated through his mind.

'Now I can finally do it…'

* * *

AN: I planned for this to be a lot longer, but I decided for the sake of load times, I'm breaking it up, rather then put off uploading this any further. Part 2 will be done by Friday, guaranteed. Sorry about the long delays people, but I have started work on another story, _What are we really?_ It is a Naruto/OC story, with a two world system and such. I'm sorry I didn't mention much in the way of Naruto's actual training, but it get's better. Anyway, please review. 


	10. Chapter 9: Hell Month, Part II

Chapter 9

Hell Month Part II

* * *

Kratos woke up to find his head ringing, his muscles aching, and in general feeling too much like he had too much to drink. That, in combination with the usual caffeine-related head aches, was enough to make him very irritated. Over on his left, Naruto was still out cold.

Kratos stood up. He stumbled, but he managed to gain his balance. He immediately noticed the change in his vision. He could see everything in perfect detail, even colors became sharper. He also felt more agile. He took out a sword for a few quick swipes. The difference was astounding. What had already felt like a feather was no utterly weightless. He delved into every complex maneuver he could think of. Nothing was challenging. So Kratos decided to try out a new trick. He formed a basic Kage Bunshin and gave it a blade. The Bunshin rushed him. Instead of ducking the sword and laying his opponent out or stabbing him, Kratos jumped, landing right on his opponent's blade. With one clean swipe, he beheaded the Bunshin, turning it into a cloud of smoke.

The commotion managed to stir Naruto. Upon rising, he noticed much more dramatic changes. Everything had been amped to an extreme. He was infinitely stronger, faster, he even felt smarter. It was as if someone just re-worked his body. It was intense to say the least. The true difference was in chakra. Naruto felt like he could never waste it. He flared his chakra once, it resulted in an uncontrolled explosion. Naruto stood in the center of a small area of destruction, and tried it again. This time, he attempt to control and shape the blast, and found he could do it with incredible ease.

"Naruto, you're up. I hope you feel any better then I do…" Kratos said.

"Heh, not really. But damn…whatever the fox did, it worked."

"No kidding. I thought I about matched him, but he doubled my power…more then that." Kratos said.

Kratos was beginning to take notice of the fact that this stores of chakra had increased by much more then double. Quadruple at least. That shouldn't have happened. Kyuubi's technique basically transferred his natural abilities. That means that while a naturally large chakra supply would have been transferred, it would have been equal to whatever Kyuubi had. What Kratos received was much more.

"Naruto…I think Kyuubi is going to have to train us for a short while today, show us how to use everything…now where is that damn fox?" Kratos said.

Apparently, inquiring as to the whereabouts of the Kyuubi no Kitsune serves as an invitation to be pounced on. Instead of hitting the floor, Kratos had his hand out before Kyuubi was in the air, and Kratos caught Kyuubi and held him by the scruff of his neck.

"NO." was all Kratos said. For a few minutes he just stared at Kyuubi until the poor fox started shaking. "Ah relax, just screwing with you. We need your help. Whatever you did…I know you didn't have this kind of power. How in hell did I end up with...well…" Kratos, finding it difficult to describe just how much chakra he now had, jumped. He fired a miniscule ball of chakra away, toward a large body of water. The ball of chakra impacted, and after a few moments, detonated. It would rain for the next thirty minutes. "See?"

"I think what happened was that my Titanic chakra reacted with yours and the reaction created an excess build up of energy. Your body was able to convert this basic energy to chakra. However, the amount of energy created was obviously a little much. No doubt your chakra system reworked itself. Have someone with the Byakugan take a look at you later."

"You said we had half-demon forms. How do you use it?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, my influence on your body pretty much guaranteed you would be a fox, so just focus on transforming. Kratos, your own nature will influence yours. It's going to have some resemblance to an animal, pick a few and try." Naruto's transformation came fairly quickly. His eyes went red, but misty. His nails grew into claws, and muscles re-arranged themselves slightly. He grew fangs, which gave him an incredibly fierce appearance. He stood perfectly straight, but he could easily switch to all-fours, for whatever reason he would want to. Naruto also found he could grow a tail at will, whether or not he was transformed.

Kratos' transformation took far longer. It was the oddest blend of a Hawk and a Wolf. He could grow wings, always with black feathers. His eyes turned misty-gold-yellow, and while his mouth gained fangs, his hands and feet became more claw-like, and yet at the same time changed so that they were ideal for running. He too could grow a tail. He also developed that curious talent to completely shape shift into a hawk. Kyuubi's explanation for the odd mix was influence from Artemis, as well as his own natural inclination. One thing was clear though, Kratos was a born predator. Kyuubi shuddered a little when Kratos let out a loud, bestial roar. "Just to get the adrenaline going. Let's see what we can do, eh Naruto?" With that, Kratos shot into the air, and spent several minutes enjoying himself in the thrill of flight. Whereas before flying was taxing on his reserves, it was now a natural movement, a kind of freedom he had never known. Naruto took off along the ground, easily reaching speeds of 50 mph. Kyuubi called them back.

"You two…damn teenagers. In addition to these forms, your human bodies are faster. You'll notice increases in everything from the basic senses to your dexterity. I should warn you, I don't know what the effect will be when you use your bloodlines. You should be able to rip people to shreds though." Kyuubi said. Kratos and Naruto nodded, and went home.

Artemis noticed that changes on her lover immediately. She could fell his presence well before he got to the compound. He was slightly taller, definitely stronger, and moved with a strange grace. When she tried to sneak up on him, he just turned around, kissed her, and sat down for breakfast. She was stunned. A goddess of hunting couldn't sneak up on a _human_?

"_HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!_" She screamed. Kratos laughed, and gave her an extremely wide smile. "He's rubbing off on you." She said, pointing to Naruto.

"Arte…I can beat her. I know it."

"How? Kratos, don't get cocky. I know you're stronger, but she has always been the fastest, except Hermes, but he isn't a fighter." Artemis said.

"But see, the Kyuubi…look, fire an arrow at me." Kratos said.

"_What_." Artemis said. She was a sure shot, and her arrows went extremely fast. She had only twice missed her target, and both times the arrow had been aimed at a man clever enough to woo her. As such, for someone she loved to dodge an arrow over a distance, not much of a problem, since her heart wasn't in the shot. Artemis was standing right next to Kratos. It didn't matter if he was made of diamond, or if her heart was on a gambling vacation, her arrow would go right through.

"You heard me Artemis. Trust me, okay?" He got closer to her with that, and met her eyes with his own. He wasn't joking. "Fire away." Artemis summoned her bow, knocked an arrow, and closed her eyes. She hoped Kratos knew what he was doing. She fired.

Kratos saw the arrow easily, and plucked it out of the air like a baseball player catching a pop fly. When Artemis managed to open her eyes, she saw him twirling the arrow in the air like a toy. She was thoroughly shocked. Naruto was just laughing. Until Kratos whispered something to Artemis, and disappeared, leaving Artemis with a solemn expression.

"Naruto…Kratos asked me to explain…well, him. He's not that much different from you really." Aretemis said after Kratos left.

"What do you mean? Am I finally going to get to learn something significant about my brother?

"While you grew up being hated by this village, Kratos grew up being hated and feared. Half-god's usually are. But Kratos, like you, arrived to the conclusion that the only way for him to gain respect was to lead them all. Most half-god's just try to become gods, not that many do. But Kratos…he wants the throne of Olympus. Kratos wants to rule the Gods. To do that, he needs to not only defeat or in some other way gain the respect of every Olympian, he must eventually challenge Zeus. You have never met him, but Zeus is unstoppable. Only with the power of each Olympian backing him could he stand a chance. Even then, it might take more. Do you know who Chronos is?"

"Yes."

"He is sort of a missing god. If Kratos could gain his power, nothing could stand in his way. Anyway, the reason there's something of a grim atmosphere in this is that defeating each Olympian entails…" Artemis was about to finish when Naruto cut in.

"…fighting Mom." He said.

"He won't hurt her. Well, I don't think. You need to understand that for a half-god, what he has done is incredible. He could wipe the floor with anyone save a Titan, Ares, or Zeus, in terms of raw power that is. That is how the God's consider these challenges. It always focuses on that God's strength. Hephaestus challenged him to forge a weapon. Kratos won. Aeolus, while not an Olympian, he still commands the winds, and thus he had to face him too. That was a contest of raw control. Me…well I'm not telling you what _my_ challenge was. That's private. My brother challenged him to make an instrument. And that's who he's won over so far. If he can defeat Ares, win over Poseidon, and his mother, then he'll be ready for Hades. After that, I don't know."

"So now he's going too fight mom?"

"No. He may be fast, but he can't use that speed yet. He'll be training. Whatever you do for the rest of the month, be aware that he'll have killed himself eight times over." Artemis said. For once, Naruto did not have anything to say. Kyuubi walked in around this time, and picked Naruto up by the scruff of his neck, and dragged him off to training.

* * *

Kyuubi's tutelage was harsh. Naruto had to constantly keep pace, and at the end of the day his limbs were ripped to shreds and the bones were cracked and in some places broken. Naruto healed the _minor_ damage quickly after he set the bones. Every single cell in his body ached and pained him. His injuries were insignificant in comparison to what Kratos did to himself. He arrived home drenched in his own blood. Not mere cuts but gashes were all over him.

"KRATOS!" Artemis screamed.

"HOLY SHIT BRO!" Naruto managed to leap to his feet at the sight of his brother. Athena walked by at this moment, and upon noticing her son's mangled figure, immediately rushed to help him. She aiding Kratos in limping to the center of the entrance hall, a bloody trail behind him. When Kratos' torn armor was removed, Naruto could see the full extent of the damage. The wounds were mostly just surface, but Kratos wouldn't be able to move for a few days. Each cut was deep. Around each gash, there were very severe burn marks, to the point of nearly blackened skin. Nearly every rib was broken, and his limbs were mangled in many ways thought to be physically impossible.

Athena spent the better part of an hour healing what she could. Afterward, her and Artemis watched over him intently. Naruto was certain that his brother would be fine, but he figured movement would be utterly impossible for a week more or less. Kratos got up and got a cup of coffee three hours later, without a scar to show for his injuries. Naruto and the rest of the family were very interested to know what had cause the extensive injuries.

"Kratos…what did you do to yourself. No amount of training could have caused that level of damage." Athena asked.

"Sorry about the scare Mom. I had to push my limits again…see what I could do. I pushed a little too hard." Kratos said. For Artemis, that wasn't enough.

"A little?! YOU COULD HAVE DIED! You aren't invincible Kratos, you should bare that in mind! I lost Orion already…you are the first to hold my heart in a long time Kratos…please…you can't die…" Artemis was in tears and on her knees when she was done talking. Kratos was dumbfounded.

"Arte…you know I won't leave you, ever. Hades himself couldn't stop me."

"SEE?! THAT'S THE ATTITUDE THAT WILL GET YOU KILLED!" Artemis said. She was hysterical at this point.

"…I'm sorry. I don't want to worry you…" Kratos said, walking up to the openly weeping goddess and wrapping his arms around her in an effort to placate her. She clamed down fairly quickly after that. "Hey…I'm going to bed. You coming with?" He asked.

"Yeah…I'll be up in a bit…" Artemis said. Kratos and Artemis went to their room afterwards. Athena stayed behind in the entry hall, while Naruto watched his mother. It didn't shock him to see Artemis cry for her lover out of fear, having lost a loved one already, but his mother was…somehow different in his mind. Just here title as a goddess of war and wisdom made her seem above the kind of pain a human feels. So it shocked him to the core to see her cry. He stepped forward to try to talk to her.

"Mom…what's wrong…"

"It's just…your brother…I hate seeing him like that. He doesn't show it, but he feels as much pain as anyone. I love him and you too. You're both my children…seeing either of you like that…it's too much. Your brother carries a heavy burden. He can either succeed, or spend an eternity with a past full of actions he should not be blamed for." Athena said, still weeping.

"Past?"

"Naruto…please…let me just go to sleep. I'm tired." Athena said. Naruto gave his mother one tight hug before nodding off. Tomorrow would bring more training, but Naruto shuddered to think what Kratos would do to himself during that span of time.

* * *

Over the next week, Naruto's progress was dramatic. Naruto used Shadow Clones to study theories behind techniques and read through every available library so that he would gain the knowledge even quicker. Kratos continually came home wrecked, although not nearly as bad as the first night. He never directly answered any question as to what his routine was. However, he made note of Naruto's incredible progress.

It was morning and Naruto and Kyuubi were well into the starting routine for the day. Aerobics and cardio exercises were the poison of the day. Kyuubi was attempting to turn Naruto into something of a contortionist or a track runner. Watching Naruto run and stretch were two figures. One was Kratos. The other was a white haired old man.

"Not bad material to work with. A lot like his brother eh?" the white haired man said. Kratos thought about the work Naruto had put in and his mind wandered through some blacked-out portions of his own sessions.

"You have no idea. Want to meet him?"

"I'd rather you introduce us. Just to make sure he likes me, give him this." Said the white haired man, handing Kratos a book.

"Seriously. Do you _want_ your ass handed to you by not only an overly-protective mother, an over powered concerned brother, and a woman whose known to do very painful things to perverts, but also by every damn kunoichi in this village? You give this to my little brother, you will find yourself with a lot of problems."

"Right okay okay…"

"Whatever. Jiraiya, me and my brother will definitely help you find Tsunade. It'll be good for him to see the world. One of the perks of being a merc, I got to travel a lot."

"See you and the kid there tomorrow."

"Peace, perv."

* * *

POST NOTES:

I know my schedule as gone all to hell. Please have mercy.


	11. Chapter 10: Hell Month Part III

Author's Notes: Sorry for yet another delay, I was in the hospital. Just got back. This chapter rushes a bit until it gets to where they leave for Hades (and that' pretty close to the beginning, only a few pages.)

Right, I made Haku a girl. She isn't with Naruto. Gaara maybe, I could see that.

* * *

Chapter 10

Hell Month Part III

* * *

Naruto and Kyuubi were at the Myrmidon compound, practicing with a mid-rank Myrmidon. He was from Ophelos' division, meaning he was strong. Naruto was practicing the most basic kind of combat, a one on one sword fight. Naruto's superior dexterity, strength, energy, and speed more then made up for a lack of experience over the older warrior, but Naruto's opponent was able to hold his ground. Soon another Myrmidon joined in. Then another. Eventually an intense exercise evolved into a battle royal. Naruto had his challenge then. Kyuubi stayed out of it then. However, the mass battle was soon sorted out by the entrance of an old white haired man and Kratos.

"I admire the spirit…but I would expect **some** discipline from you guys." Kratos said. The Myrmidons snapped to attention. "Naruto, this old guy is Jiraiya, he'll be…"

"That isn't how you're supposed to introduce me!" Jiraiya shouted. "Here, let me show you a **real** introduction." Jiraiya cleared his throat, and shouted: "I am the legendary heavenly sage, the toad hermit, JIRAIYA!" complete with a weird dance.

"Are you sure this guy…isn't a little…senile?" Naruto asked.

"Not entirely, but he's a good teacher. He'll have you using the Rasengan in no time, and he'll teach you some weak summoning."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SENILE? And toads aren't weak." Jiraiya said looking a little deflated.

"One, yes, old man, you definitely need some meds for that old brain, and two, compared to the Hydra? Or the Kraken? Or my personal favorite…Scorpio?"

"Fair enough. But I'm not senile!" Jiraiya said. He turned to Naruto and gave him a once over. "Well, I don't think you need any more physical conditioning. Let me guess…Muai Thai. Have you taken him…you know…to hell yet?"

"That's for later." Kratos said. "You have three days to teach this kid the Rasengan and summoning. It took me three days Naruto, to master it."

"I can beat that!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

* * *

"Kid you have no idea what you're getting yourself into. C'mon, we got work to do." Jiraiya said. Jiraiya led Naruto to a clearing deep in the forest just outside of Konoha's walls. Naruto watched as Jiraiya performed a series of hand seals which he assumed must be for either the Kuchiyose of toads, or an easier way to do the Rasengan. The former proved true when a large toad with a large scroll appeared behind Jiraiya, who plucked out the scroll, and opened it. Naruto saw several signatures, amongst them "**_KAZAMA ARASHI_**".

"My dad signed this?" Naruto asked.

"Of course he did. All my students do, if they can't already summon something. You're lucky; toads will be your weakest summoning. The beasts your brother summons are comparable to the Kyuubi in terms of power. But you must know how to gain control of them. Getting control over the toad boss, Gamabunta, will be a challenge, assuming you can even summon him. So anyway, sign in blood here." Naruto did so. Jiraiya opened the scroll some more. "Initial here, again there…that's for health benefits and dental, so initial and sign, put your name in print over here, and now sign down here again, because the blood dried. Good!" Naruto was getting annoyed at having to continually slash his finger open, but he figured it was for the best, although he made a mental note to dispose of unnecessary bureaucracy when he was Hokage, because he hated it.

"Any more blood you need?" Naruto asked.

"Yep! Cut your finger once more and do those hand seals you showed me. Fortunately, control is not an issue here. Just pump as much chakra as you can into this."

"That's a lot of energy…"

"If you are anything like your brother, I don't doubt that." Jiraiya said. Naruto performed the seals. He summoned a fairly large toad, slightly bigger then the one Jiraiya called. Naruto was disappointed. Jiraiya was ecstatic. "Amazing! To summon one this big on your first attempt…you really are a lot like your brother. Your father and him would be proud!" At this, Naruto perked up. It took three more summonings before Gamabunta appeared.

"**Jiraiya, why are you summoning my family so much today…and why is there a kid on my head. Not funny**." Gamabunta said.

"He summoned you." Jiraiya answered, which was promptly confirmed by Naruto jumping for joy at his accomplishments on Gamabunta's head.

"**Bull. Now GET OFF ME!**" Gamabunta said, and began to wildly buck about. Naruto held on with chakra, expertly couching and bending with Gamabunta's movements so that he would not be thrown off by the force. Jiraiya sighed. Gamabunta could keep this up all day, but could Naruto?

Kratos kneeled before his mother. He was nervous, and began trying to focus on whatever challenge his mother would present him. He was sure it would be another fight.

"You know why I'm here, Mom. I have to try again."

"I understand…but Kratos, you have been beyond my power to defeat for some time. I cannot indulge your request in the form of combat…so instead…I want you to get something for me. You are taking Naruto to the river Styx, yes?"

"When he has mastered the Rasengan." Kratos responded, carefull to speak with a tone of respect and reverence. He understood the importance of what he was doing. Requesting a rite of power was an extremely sacred event, and he had to treat his mother in accordance with her power. "But what do you mean I have been able to beat you?"

"Since your brother was found…you have begun the change. You're eyes Kratos, you must have noticed. They are gaining power…and gaining new traits, I believe."

Kratos mulled this over for a second before returning his mind to the task at hand. "What is it you want me to retrieve?"

"Your father." Athena said.

"How? No weapon I wield can harm Hades!"

"First, negotiate. If it must come to blows…then…you must let go of being human, and become something above even a god. You have perfected your technique. The realm of the dead is the only place that power won't kill you. That is all the advice I can give." Athena stopped, and

"Mother…I will try…no…I will bring my father back to you. I leave in two days time, sooner if Naruto is ready."

Naruto was still riding Gamabunta. Jiraiya had left to go get lunch. By the time Jiraiya came back, Gamabunta and Naruto were both worn out. "Gamabunta, just give in already. That kid is from the same stock as Kratos. He won't fall off." At this, Gamabunta looked pissed off.

"**You could have told me this kid was Kratos' brother! Would have saved a whole lot of time!**"

"You could have just…accepted the fact that I summoned you, you know."

"**But what fun would that be? Good to meet you brat. Summon me when you need me next alright? We need to get a drink sometime when your older. You smoke?**"

"No…but I'll take you up on that drink sometime…"Naruto said, sweat dropping.

"Gamabunta, stop being a bad influence!" Jiraiya said. Gamabunta gave Jiraiya a swat for good measure before poofing out of existence. "Kid, you really are something else. C'mon, you must be drained." Jiraiya said, not realizing that Naruto had fainted on impact with the ground after falling from Gamabunta when the toad left the realm of humans. Jiraiya dragged Naruto back to his home. "Maybe this kid will learn the Rasengan in a day…he certainly managed to get Gamabunta quick enough."

Kratos was fighting furiously with a shadow clone. Defeating Hades…an opponent he couldn't kill, and certainly couldn't negotiate with. "How am I supposed to defeat someone within a real wherein they held absolute power? My technique…my ultimate attack won't work there…what is Mom thinking!?" Kratos thought. He didn't notice that he was perfectly predicting his opponent's movements well before the clone made them.

The next day, Naruto was led to the same clearing. Jiraiya brought with him a full supply of water balloons, and rubber balls. "Brat, watch closely." Jiraiya picked up one the balloons, holding it in his palm. The balloon began to violently bulge out in all directions, before finally bursting. Jiraiya tossed a balloon to Naruto. "Do what I just did, and you'll have your first step down." Naruto figured what Jiraiya had done required using chakra to move the water somehow. However, he could not replicate what Jiraiya had done. After an hour, he was no closer to the result he wanted. Jiraiya decided to give him a hint.

"Spin kid. Spin." Jiraiya said. Naruto tried spinning his chakra and the water, but that produced no results either except to make the balloon shake a little. As Naruto sat, taking time to think on the solution to the mystery of the water balloon, a small gust of air disturbed a nearby bunch of leaves. The clearing deflected the wind back into itself, causing the leaves to spin in a neat circle. Naruto watched this happen, trying to take some time to think on the problem. Jiraiya was practicing some kind of wind jutsu at the time. He fired off the jutsu, and the additional gust of wind flew through the clearing. The spinning leaves flew away from each other in all directions. In that instant, Naruto understood. He tired making multiple spins. It was difficult to maintain, but he found he could. He increased the power until the water balloon exploded. Jiraiya quickly began the next step.

"Naruto, the key to this one is just power. Watch." Jiraiya picked up one of the rubber balls, and after a short while, it exploded. "This takes control. After working for so long with Kratos…I'd say it wouldn't be too hard. Naruto quickly realized that the key was to focus his power into a singular point. Kratos had taught him that the best way to use a pure chakra attack was to focus it into a tiny point the enemy couldn't see, but fill that point with massive amounts of power. Tricky, but effective. Naruto quickly performed the task, although it left his hand with minor chakra burns. The third step proved to be hardest. Jiraiya simply held out a balloon, and spun a massive amount of chakra inside of it without popping the balloon. Naruto simply couldn't contain the spin.

* * *

Kratos was meditating. His mind clear, he thought of nothing. However, the white void he had made his mind changed into a large field. The grass was red. A hawk flew up ahead, diving down at the small creatures that hid in the red grass. It struck each with perfect accuracy. Eventually, it arose from its dive with a purple cobra in its grasp. The cobra wildly fought, and then grew. It grew into a gargantuan creature. The hawk and the snake fought ferociously, neither gaining ground. The hawk went for the snakes eyes, and the snake would dodge. The fight only ended when a large storm came and swept them both away. Then Kratos awoke. "A vision…but what does it mean?" He asked himself.

* * *

Jiraiya had returned from dinner, and still, Naruto had not mastered the third step. Naruto was frustrated, hungry, and tired. Jiraiya decided Naruto needed a break, but Naruto wouldn't have it. He kept at his task, focused solely on controlling his spin. Eventually, he took a short break simply to re-analyze what he was doing. He took a short moment to glance around the forest. He thought back to the circle of leaves formed by the gusts of wind, and wondered what forced them into that neat little circle. As he thought, he realized that on an open field, the leaves would have followed the wind. Something had to re-direct the wind. "The trees form a barrier the wind deflects off of…maybe I need to make a barrier?" Naruto thought. Instead of immediately creating the powerful spin, he used his other hand to create a bubble of chakra inside the balloon. Then, with the hand holding the balloon, he tried the spin. The balloon held. Naruto found himself jumping for joy, realizing that he had completed the three stages of learning the Rasengan. Now he had to perfect the technique.

Jiraiya had fallen asleep, as it was the dead of night when Naruto made his realization. Naruto awoke Jiraiya, eager to show off. "So you got it, I see. Good. Now, do it without the balloon." Naruto performed the technique again. The Rasengan wasn't perfect, but it was enough for Jiraiya to be temporarily satisfied.

Upon returning to the compound, Jiraiya met up with Kratos while Naruto went to bed.

"He's a lot like you." Jiraiya said.

"How's he doing?"

"He learned the Rasengan quick. But…he learned it in a funny way. He's oddly in tune with the world around him. He figured it out all based on the way the wind made a bunch of leaves move in a circle."

"Really? Maybe a result of the Kyuubi?"

"Possibly. His Rasengan isn't perfect, but he'll manage. I want to see if he can't perfect it tomorrow."

"Jiraiya…I'm taking him to Hades. You want to come with? I…I'm bringing back Arashi."

"I'll go with you, but do you think you can do it? Your mother tried. Hades isn't easy to deal with. If it comes to a fight…you can't beat him."

"I don't have a choice. Before we go though, I want to give Naruto an edge against Neji. I want to shock those arrogant Hyuuga into humility, and I know just how to do it. "

The next day Naruto spent trying to master the Rasengan. He performed it constantly. Over and over until he could do it in a fraction of a second, with both hands at least. He couldn't seem to manage it with both.

While he worked on perfecting the technique, Kratos was busy sneaking about the Hyuuga compound. His misty eyes could pass for a Hyuuga's, and their eyes couldn't detect a little hair dye. He watched Neji train with Hiashi, all the while chuckling to himself. When asked by one of the Hyuuga about this, he said he couldn't wait to see the 'Demon brat' put in his place. That was more then enough to dispel any suspicion. He watched every move, and figured out how to perform them. After Neji was done, he snuck into Hiashi's private practice sessions. It wasn't long before Kratos memorized all of the Hyuuga's most prized attacks. He analyzed each, and found it weaknesses. It would take time to incorporate them into the Kazama's. 'Neji is so screwed…now then…just one more stop and then I can get the hell out of this place…'

That night Kratos had another vision. He stood in a white void, in front of him a pool of shadows. From the pool rose one great figure of blackness, and hundreds of scarlet and gold figures. They rushed at him. Kratos awoke, sweating from his vision. It was still dark out. Artemis was sleeping next to him. He watched for a long while. "I fear my death may be upon me soon…but if what mother says is true, I will see you again…" he whispered quietly to her sleeping form.

Kratos awoke the next day and Naruto already gone. Naruto was to spend the day perfecting the Rasengan with Jiraiya. Kratos figured that at this point, it was simply a matter of practice. He had his own business to attend to, and would go test Naruto later. Kratos left to go see Sarutobi about his, Naruto's, and Jiraiya's temporary leave of absence. When he arrived, he found that the council was already meeting with him. As a high ranking member of Konoha's army, he felt he had the right to enter, and the ANBU didn't bother trying to stop him.

"Hokage-sama, I don't feel as if this threat has any genuine basis. He was a fine shinobi, but I don't think his murder implies an attack." Said a man with an odd scar on his face. Danzou. Kratos knew the name; he had heard it whispered by certain ANBU.

"What is this I here of an attack? I think I have a right to know." Kratos said from the doorway. "And for the record, you might want to notice when a random person walks into a _high security_ meeting."

"Humph. Mercenary scum. You have no business here." Hiashi said.

"Sarutobi, if you will refer to the contract I signed, it explicitly states that if a possible threat to Konoha presents itself, you are obligated to inform me as soon as you are aware. I'm afraid that means I do have a right to be a part of this meeting." Kratos said. He made no effort to hide the anger in his voice.

"He's right. Kratos, Gekko was killed recently. _Kaze no Yaiba_ without doubt. That means it was probably a sand-nin." Sarutobi said.

"I think this entails some investigation, but the death of one shinobi is no cause for war." Hiashi said.

"I will have my ANBU handle it, if it will ease your tensions." Danzou said.

'_His_ ANBU? I thought that ANBU units report directly to the Hokage, and this old guy sure as hell isn't ANBU…maybe ex…something is not right about this.' Kratos thought. "No. Don't waste security forces on investigation. I'll put some of my men on it." Kratos said.

"Can we trust a mercenary?" Hiashi said, spite lacing every word.

"You can trust me to do what I'm paid to do, _Hyuuga_." Kratos said, returning the Hyuuga's spite in kind. "Look, I'm not even here about this. Sarutobi, I need to take Naruto and Jiraiya on a little trip. It'll take about a week, so we'll be back for the exams."

"Where exactly are you going?" Sarutobi asked.

"Hell." Kratos asked. Sarutobi blinked.

"Come again?"

"You know…the underworld? Land of the dead? Spirit realm? Any of this making sense to you?"

"No, but I'll allow it anyway…" Sarutobi said.

"Good. I leave tonight." Kratos said. He turned to leave when Sarutobi spoke up again.

"While you're out, we have a mission that's suited to you."

"So long as it won't take me out of my way. What's the job?"

"The assassination of a big tycoon, and the utter obliteration of everything he owns and all of his muscle. Gatou is the target's name. A poor village from the wave scrapped together every penny they could to pay for this. He's supposed to be well protected. He's currently residing in the Wave, overseeing his trade routes. Presently, he his focused on preventing the completion of a bridge which would be disastrous to his trade monopoly. Your secondary objective is to protect the life of the bridge builder. He will meet you there."

"The Wave? That's not too far from where I'm headed. I'll handle it on the way. Anything else?"

"That will be all." Sarutobi said.

Naruto was growing increasingly frustrated. Try as he might, he found it utterly impossible to perform the Rasengan one handed. Jiraiya had looked at every element…Naruto's form, technique, control; all were perfect by his standard. Naruto was ready to explode when Kratos found them.

"Hey bro. How goes it?" Kratos asked. Naruto exploded.

"How's it going?! This god damn technique! It just won't work! I am doing everything right, and it doesn't work! I can't keep it together!!! ARRRGH!" Naruto shouted, accidentally firing a large amount of chakra at Jiraiya. The geezer was apparently diverting his attention to several women in a nearby spring, and the blast made his presence apparent. His screams of agony were heard by perverts around the world, as Mitarashi Anko had been at that spring. Seth, her, and Ibiki had become quite the trio. Trade secrets were exchanged.

"Umm…have you tried spinning your chakra the other way?" Kratos asked. Naruto's eye twitched. He tried it, and, amazingly enough, he made a perfect Rasengan.

"Are you kidding me? When that damn pervert gets back here I am going to introduce him to new forms of pain!" Naruto said.

"That's _if_ he can walk after…" Kratos was interrupted by more horrifying screams, no doubt emanating from Jiraiya. "I don't think I need to say anything more. Anyway Naruto, we three are going on a little trip. Remember when I said I would take you to hell? We leave tonight. First however, I need to see how you've progressed. You've trained with the best Naruto. Myself, my best soldiers, and one of my teachers. Draw your sword Naruto, and defend yourself!" Kratos said, rushing Naruto halfway through the last sentence. Naruto didn't need to be told twice. He ducked under the rush, drew his blade, and stabbed at Kratos' abdomen. Kratos exploded.

'Damn, a clone! So where is he?' Naruto thought. His second sight activated. From all around, arrows shot from the forest. An instant before it happened; Naruto surrounded himself with a shield of earth.

"Not bad Naruto…" he said. "But you still don't seem to remember that in combat, no place is safe. Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu." Naruto was pulled into the earth. Naruto panicked for a moment, but collected himself quickly. He focused on releasing his chakra in all directions with great force. This was no easy task. Massing chakra at one point forces it to be released with more force. Releasing it from all directions provides no pressure boost to assist the flow of chakra, but Naruto was able to loosen the dirt enough to escape before Kratos' blade was brought to Naruto's neck. As soon as Naruto was free, he performed the _Housenka no Jutsu_, directing the fire balls around him to prevent Kratos from rushing him again.

Kratos stood before his brother and smiled. "Alright. You're not bad. Here are the rules from this point on. Kenjutsu and Taijutsu only." Kratos had his blade ready. He wanted Naruto to charge him. Naruto had no inhibitions against this. He rushed, and Kratos planted his feet. When Naruto got close, Kratos grabbed hold and tossed his brother away. "Don't be too eager Naruto. Let your opponent come to you, so that you can choose your ground, and have a few seconds to choose your counter." He said. Kratos was suprised when a kunai fell from the sky and slashed his arm open. 'How did he do that…a kunai shouldn't be sharp enough to cut me…' Kratos' thoughts were interrupted when the kunai exploded.

"And maybe you should pay more attention. When I charged you I…"

"Threw a chakra charged kunai into the air. With my attention on you, I over looked it. Clever." As Kratos spoke, the clearing became covered by shade.

"Wrong!" Naruto said with a smirk. Kratos heard the distinct whistle of something moving through the air. He looked up. Falling towards him were hundreds of kunai, shuriken, and one or kitchen knives. "Who said I threw just one?" Naruto said. Kratos smirked, and fired one good chakra blast straight up. Every projectile exploded in mid-air.

"Next time, don't make so many. Too much noise, and they blot out the sun…the shade gave it away from the start. Good try, though. I have to ask, why the kitchen knives?" Kratos said. However, Naruto was no longer standing across the field. Where he stood, Kratos saw four holes in the ground. 'His weights…' Kratos knew he had to wary now. Naruto was fast enough to land a solid hit if Kratos didn't take him seriously.

Naruto took shelter in the forest around the clearing. Kratos noticed the weights, and that meant he was going to be careful. Naruto thought over his options. He circled around the clearing, behind Kratos. He leaped off the trunk of a tree, his blade held out in front of him.

Kratos knew it was coming. He turned around when it was already too late for Naruto to change the attack. Kratos' reach was longer, Naruto would be within his range before he was within Naruto's. "Fight's over. Not bad kid."

"Maybe not brother." From below, Kratos heard "Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!" and he was pulled into the earth by a the real Naruto. The clone landed, rolled, and put his sword tip at Kratos' throat. Kratos looked angry.

"I believe I said that jutsu weren't allowed. You used three. _Kage Shuriken,_ which you used three times, once for each of your weapons, as well as _Kage Bunshin_, and _Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu_."

"In a real fight, there aren't any rules. I don't really care if this is training or not, a fight is a fight, and as such I'll take any advantage I can get." Naruto said. Kratos dropped the mask, and smiled.

"You pass my little test then. Great job. Don't get cocky though. I was holding back." He said.

"Duh. So, what's the plan for this trip?" Naruto asked.

"We have a short stop in the wave. Naruto, you may be young, but by your age my hands were stained with blood. None of it was innocent, to be sure, but I had killed many people nonetheless. Naruto, we have an assassination mission. You're at least low jounin at this point. Hey wait a minute…why am I still in the ground…" Kratos took a moment to free himself in the same manner Naruto had. "Anyway…you need to learn what things are really like. You need to learn to kill. After we deal with that, we go down to the underworld. Mom's challenge for me is there, and I may win Hades as well."

"Cool. So how long is the trip?" Naruto asked.

"One week. I have a present for you. I want you to use only the techniques in this scroll against Neji. Well, those, and the Rasengan, your bloodlines, and all the speed you have. I want to see Neji in pieces. You saw what he did to Hinata? She still hasn't fully recovered. Wreck him, Naruto, and do it with his own techniques!" Kratos said, handing over the scroll. Inside of it were detailed instructions on performing all of the Hyuuga's techniques, their Taijutsu, and their training methods.

"Oh my god…you stole their clan scrolls…" Naruto burst out laughing. "Thanks bro. You can count on me wiping the floor with their so called prodigy."

"I know it. C'mon, let's go. We need to pack."

When the pair got back to the Kazama compound, they found Jiraiya outside. He was beaten pretty bad, and was muttering something incomprehensible. They had to wait for him to get back to his senses, but soon enough, they were off. In two days, Naruto had learned nearly half the Hyuuga's techniques. Since most of them relied on control, Naruto had doubled his efforts, and his control had improved dramatically. However, Naruto did not have the Byakugan, and as such had to memorize more about anatomy then most surgeons do. He had a perfect map of the human body in his head. Arteries, veins, muscles, tendons, and most important, tenketsu locations were all necessary knowledge for him to effectively use the Hyuuga's techniques. Kratos learned along side Naruto, and before long both were more then a match for any Hyuuga. Naruto began to use the Hyuuga's style frequently, but instead of the point the Hyuuga formed when injecting their chakra into a person, he formed his into extremely precise needles. He didn't even have to touch his opponent to strike them; he only had to get close. After three days, they had arrived at the wave. They were greeted by Tazuna, the man in charge of construction of the bridge.

"Are you three from Konoha?" Tazuna asked.

"Yes. I'm Kazama Kratos. This is my brother, Naruto. The old guy is named Jiraiya."

"Welcome to the land of the Wave. I can't thank you enough for accepting this mission. Come; let me lead you to my home. You must be tired." Tazuna said. Jiraiya decided he would spend his time otherwise. Naruto and Kratos both sighed at this. Tazuna led the two brothers through the small town. As they walked, Naruto looked around, seeing the poverty stricken people. Many were wearing things that barley deserved to be called rags. It reminded him of the greater part of his life. Even he had food to eat and decent clothes.

"The economy of this country has been getting progressively worse. I can feed my family because I get business from other countries, but it not so for most others. Many have starved. Gatou is the cause of it. His monopoly on trade prevents Wave from importing essential resources, at least not without dealing with his ridiculous prices. The country can't export anything either. Hopefully, the bridge will allow Wave to again prosper. Ah, here we are! Home. Tsunami! We have guests!" He shouted.

Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, came out from the kitchen and greeted the shinobi. She promptly served dinner. A young boy came downstairs and sat at the table.

"Hey Inari." Tazuna said. The boy didn't say anything. He just stared at his feet.

"Tazuna, I need any information you can give me about Gatou's protection. A rich guy like this…I'm surprised he didn't hire me. Then again, I would've killed him myself after seeing this." Kratos said.

"I don't know much, but rumor has it Gatou has some shinobi of his own watching his back. I know he has two samurai body guards…" Tazuna said. Inari flinched.

"Doesn't sound too hard. Kind of an easy job, really." Naruto said.

"Bro, never count on it being easy. I'll admit though, I don't think Sarutobi needed me to handle this. Still, better we both deal with it, it'll take less time." Kratos said. Inari slammed his fists down onto the table.

"What are you saying?! You should give up and go! No one can stand up to Gatou. You'll just die! You act like you're so strong, but against Gatou, it's nothing! You have no idea what you're talking about!" Inari said. Naruto looked up from his meal.

"It's you who has no idea what you're talking about. There isn't much that could kill us. If we're after him, then trust me, he's a dead man." Naruto said, angrily.

"Just shut up!" Inari yelled in a fit of rage. He stormed upstairs.

"Please…forgive my grandson. Gatou killed his father…the man who was a hero to this village. He saved Inari from drowning, and after that, they bonded. He eventually married my daughter. He did a lot of amazing things for this village. His courage and willingness to put himself in danger for all of us inspired the whole village. Then Gatou came…his Samurai publicly executed him." Tazuna said. He and his daughter both had the same look on their faces, a look of pain.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry if I or my brother came off as arrogant." Kratos said.

"No need. So what is life like as a shinobi?" Tsunami asked. Naruto and Kratos looked at one another. Neither could answer the question perfectly. Naruto's life had not been typical, and Kratos wasn't technically a ninja. Naruto spoke first.

"Well…I didn't live a typical life. My village hates me, and I didn't even know my family was alive until recently. My brother ran into me by coincidence. But life as a shinobi is not easy…" Naruto said.

"Although I am not technically a shinobi of the leaf, I do lead a large contingent of mercenaries called the Myrmidons. Since birth I've been learning to fight. I've trained every day and most nights. Every single aspect of fighting. Everything from throwing a punch to advanced warfare strategy. I'm stronger then your average shinobi, but any warrior of any kind lives a hard life." Kratos finished. Neither Tazuna nor Tsunami had anything to say in response.

The awkward silence was broken when Jiraiya walked in, drunk and bloodied, babbling on about some very explicit things that made everyone save Tazuna blush. He just laughed, and joined in, causing Tsunami to blush even more. She eventually had to leave the table out of sheer embarrassment. Kratos went outside to keep lookout. Naruto went to find Inari. As he passed a room upstairs, he heard the young boy crying. Naruto gently opened the door, and peered in. Inari was clutching a picture of his father.

"Hey…I wanted to apologize. I didn't know about your dad. I know what it feels like, not having a father around." Naruto said. Inari stiffened.

"What would you know about it?" Inari said harshly.

"Quite a bit. I didn't have anybody until recently. I lived my whole life alone." Naruto said quietly. "But I got sick of crying about it a long time ago. It doesn't get you anywhere, Inari. My life taught me one valuable lesson, and that is not to expect pity. Nobody is going to just roll over for you, no matter who you are. Being a cry baby only makes it worse. Your father…he sounds like he was a great man, and I know he wouldn't want you to live like this. He wouldn't want you to just give in." Naruto said. He left Inari to mull the short speech over. Naruto silently prayed he had had some impact.

The next day, Kratos and Naruto stood guard over the bridge. Jiraiya's help was unnecessary. Naruto was dozing off when Kratos shook him awake. They had trouble.

"Well that was quick. What do we have to play with?" Naruto said.

"No play. Momochi Zabuza and some kid. Never tangled with them, his head is only worthwhile in Mist. Look sharp. I'll handle Zabuza." Kratos said. Naruto snapped up quick. One the other end of the bridge stood his two opponents.

"So…you're the bane of missing-nin eh? The Myrmidon…rumor has it your immortal."

"Well, you aren't going to be killing me." Kratos responded.

"We'll see. Look, we don't have a problem if you don't go after Gatou. Back off, and we all go home. Or do I need to send you there in a bag?" Zabuza said.

"Momochi Zabuza…you know, I never went after you because your head is only worthwhile in Mist. But my Myrmidon's want a pool. I could use the money." Kratos said smiling. "So, who's your friend?"

"My apprentice, Haku. Yours?"

"My apprentice and my brother, Naruto. Should be more then a match. So, you want to come over here and die?" Kratos said. Zabuza covered the bridge with mist. Haku shot forward at Naruto, who saw it easily. Mimicking the motions his brother made during his test, Naruto timed the grab, grappled on, and froze. The spot he had grabbed was very soft…his mind shut down for a brief second. It was all Haku needed to send Naruto flying with a kick to the stomach.

"Ack…sorry…wait…I'm apologizing to the person I'm trying to kill…Kratos is right, I need to get better at this." Naruto said.

"…" Haku said nothing.

"I'm not going easy on you because you're a girl!" Naruto said.

"You don't act like a shinobi." Haku said. "You don't harden your heart enough." She didn't give him the chance to think it over, unleashing a barrage of needles. Naruto blasted them away with chakra. 'Interesting…that could be trouble though.'

Kratos and Zabuza had their swords locked. It was actually a rather humorous sight, Zabuza's gargantuan weapon stopped by Kratos' medium sized Greek blade.

"You do realize you're in a sword fight with a former swordsman of the Mist?" Zabuza said.

"Perfectly. That didn't help Kisame too much when I met him. The only reason that pansy is still alive is because of Itachi having the brains to run." Kratos said.

'He beat Kisame?! Impossible! He's bluffing.' Zabuza thought. "You didn't beat Kisame."

"I'll admit that Samehada gave me trouble. But the fact that it shaves makes it useless against me." Kratos said, smirking. "Now are we going to actually fight? I'm bored."

'SHIT! Only someone who's fought Kisame would know that, and Kisame doesn't let anybody walk away…' Zabuza thought. His nervous thoughts didn't show on his face. Zabuza was leap back, but he found he couldn't move. He felt all tingly. Kratos' blade was sparkling…like a bolt of lightning.

"Give up Zabuza. You can't move with your nerves shocked. All I have to do is cut off your head, here and…" Kratos was interrupted by Haku appearing behind Zabuza and pulling him away, long enough for him to get control of his movements. 'Should have put a few more volts into that…why don't I ever just kill them…but damn, Haku is fast.' Kratos thought.

"You were saying?" Zabuza said with a smirk. Zabuza charged again. Clash after clash of their swords rang as Kratos deflected blow after blow. Zabuza quickly realized he was outmatched. His pride was badly wounded, but he'd rather suffer humility then lose a limb to the superior swordsman. Zabuza quickly leapt back into the mist. Swordfights weren't his style anyway. He preferred to sneak up, and stab. Kratos, however, knew exactly where Zabuza was. The mist gave no shelter against Kratos.

"Really, this is pathetic. I only hope your apprentice is better." Kratos said.

"You won't be disappointed." Zabuza said, his voice coming from all directions. "She has an advance bloodline limit. No one has ever survived it. You brother is dead."

"I doubt that!" Kratos said as he fired a blast of chakra at Zabuza's location.

Naruto had the upper hand, but only because Haku was setting him up. She had used several water jutsu meant mostly just to spread water. When she had enough, she sprang her trap. She activated her bloodline. Mirrors of ice sprang up around Naruto and Haku. She melted into one, her reflection showing in all.

"Now it's over…no one has survived this. I don't want to kill you, but I will do as I must." Haku said.

"You know what? I'll humor you." Naruto said. He was getting tired of dodging around the bridge. But he did have one up on her. She cared too much for Zabuza. Naruto was sure it didn't work both ways. Naruto had a few Shadow Clones hanging underneath the bridge. When he was ready, he would have them attack Zabuza, if Kratos didn't just kill him outright. At the moment, he had bigger problems. Haku was fast, enough so that he was in a tight spot. "Let's see you match this." Naruto said, taking off his weights.

Haku began her attack with a few needles aimed to sever some key tendons without risking Naruto's life. She preferred not to kill if it was unnecessary. She didn't count on his weights weighing in at over a ton in total. He plucked the needles out of the air. 'So he moves quickly. That doesn't mean his eyes can keep up.' Haku thought. She switched mirrors.

Naruto saw the move before she made it, his vision kicking in, showing his opponent moving toward a mirror to his upper right. He jumped a second after he saw it, right at that mirror. She would get there first, but that's what he wanted. In mid-air, he activated the Rasengan.

Haku arrived at the mirror just in time to see Naruto's swirling ball of death smash into it. That gave her just enough time to switch mirrors moving at full speed. She didn't come out of it unscathed. Her mirror was obliterated, and her stomach had a good swirling cut. She had to end the fight. She looked for Naruto only to see that he was out of the mirror, rushing at Zabuza.

'Damn!' She thought. She wasn't fast enough to stop him, not with his weights off.

Kratos had foiled every attempt by Zabuza to kill him quickly. The missing-nin was starting to panic. It was clear Kratos was toying with him. And that pissed Zabuza off. Fortunately for him, Kratos felt assured of his safety, and had likely forgotten why missing-nin were such a threat, and that was that they had techniques from every village. Zabuza was counting on a jutsu from a Hidden Leaf missing-nin. _Clash_. Their swords struck each other again. Zabuza pulled his away before Kratos could activate the lightning seal, but didn't notice Naruto rushing him, Rasengan ready.

"Hit the tenketsu!" He shouted. Zabuza noticed just in time, only to find that his back was to the edge of a bridge almost 150 feet above the water.

Kratos already knew what his brother was thinking. The attack wasn't meant to kill Zabuza. It was intended to make Zabuza leap forward once he noticed it, toward Kratos, putting him within striking distance of the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms). Zabuza leapt forward, as predicted, and Kratos went into the attack. Each strike hit with more precision and more damage then a Hyuuga could ever manage. Haku was rushing to get to her mentor in time, only to be cut off by a several clones. Zabuza was out of the fight, and in a great deal of pain, struggling to speak.

"What…I know that style…but you couldn't have…your not from that clan…"

"No…I'm a Kazama. But that doesn't mean I can't use the style. Zabuza, your arrogance has caused this. Now, let's watch our wards. I already know the result, but you need to see for yourself that you have lost this fight.

Haku used her needles to quickly dispel the clones. However, the last clone got close. She had enough time to bombard it with a few needles before it got any closer. Each one hit. However, instead of exploding into smoke, it kept coming, and placed a sword at her throat. She realized her error quick. Had she taken time to aim her needles, she could have easily killed him. He knew she wouldn't bother to be careful in her rush to get to Zabuza, especially not when dealing with clones. He switched with a clone immediately after Zabuza fell into the trap.

"You know I'm fast enough to slit your throat before you move. Zabuza won't be getting up any time soon. Too bad, you guys lose." Naruto said, smirking. Kratos was beaming, he couldn't have been prouder of his brother.

"Good job, bro. That was a great plan!" Kratos said. "Now…what to do with these two…tell you what Zabuza, if you can still talk, why don't you tell me where Gatou is? I won't kill you or your apprentice so long as you talk."

"Oh come now, you don't need to pressure him. Let him rest, he's about to die after all. You are all about to die." Said a voice from the other end of the bridge. Gatou stood there with a large number of samurai. He was laughing his ass off. "Sorry Zabuza, but why pay you when it's so much easier to just kill you after the fight. You must have tired out those two by now, so they aren't any threat." Gatou said.

"You do realize that the only one of us who can't fight is Zabuza right?" Naruto said. Gatou stopped laughing very quickly. Kratos looked down at Zabuza, who nodded. Kratos took that to mean they were cool. He signaled Naruto to lower his sword.

"You know something…you make me sick Gatou. For your own petty desires you make an entire country suffer. You've cause a lot of pain to these people." Kratos said, his hair turning red.

"Gatou…we'll be seeing you in hell, rest assured." Naruto said. He thought back to the feelings he had during his fight with Kiba. He activated his bloodline willingly, allowing him to retain his control. Kratos smiled when he saw his brother's hair change and Naruto held his place.

The two brothers ripped through samurai like they were tissue paper. They didn't care too much about them; they were just in the way. Gatou was the one they wanted. Haku followed suit, needles piercing flesh, dropping hired hands like flies. At the end of the bloody slaughter, Gatou was the only one standing. He quaked with fear of his imminent death.

Naruto was the one who did it, the one who slit Gatou's throat open. For the samurai he would suffer many nights. For Gatou, he would never feel remorse, or pity, or regret, because before he slit the throat of the tycoon, he de-activated his bloodline. The last words Gatou heard were "I won't suffer for a pig."

The villagers had heard the fight. They watched Naruto and his brother slaughter almost 60 men. They should have felt revolted at the death, but the felt nothing but elation at the two boys they considered heroes. The bridge came to be known as "The Great Kazama Bridge".

Kratos spent the following night awake. He couldn't sleep for two reasons. Without Artemis at his side to soothe his mind, he was tormented by dreams of those he killed. Even as Naruto slept, he saw Naruto shudder as he relived the fight with Kiba, and the battle on the bridge. Even still, after ten minutes the younger Kazama was back to dreaming of ramen. He had not spilt enough blood to forever scar his mind. Kratos thought back to all those who had tried to escape the clutches of Hades. To those few that succeeded, only tragedy awaited. Simply entering the underworld was a danger. It was easy to lose oneself in that other world where death permeated in all things. For a living being to be thrust into a world shaped not by life, but by death, could be maddening after a few days.

As Kratos thought, he realized that his visions were not of a distant future. They would happen soon. And with this realization came another, short vision. A bird flew above a field stained with red, purple, and black. He guessed it was a hawk. Kratos realized that the colors were of men's armor, and the men who wore that armor were trying to kill the hawk. The hawk burst into flames, and the ashes rained down onto the armies of men. The ashes changed into bolts of fire. The searing flames burned into the men, obliterating them.

Kratos came out of his vision to find it was still nightfall. He still couldn't sleep.

'What I did…I didn't have to kill a single one of those samurai. I could have easily just killed my target. I wanted their blood. Naruto didn't have any desire but to kill Gatou, and didn't stop to think that there was a way to him other then through those samurai, but I knew better, and I just killed them all anyway. I don't know why. I just wanted them dead. Ares…will I ever undo the damage I let you do?' Kratos thought.

Haku and Zabuza were convinced to join Kratos' army after seeing him and his brother fight. They were waiting in Wave to join the three on their return trip. The next day Kratos led Naruto and Jiraiya to an island northeast of the Wave. It was here that the entrance to the underworld lay. There were no towns or villages. The entirety of the island felt cold, and dead. They hopped on the branches of dead trees through a seemingly never-ending dusk. Naruto had, in his overly-imaginative mind, a scene of a fanatically horrifying gateway, lined with skulls lit with the green fire of the underworld. The reality of it was merely a stairwell, leading into the ground, and into the infinite black that was Hades domain.

(_IMPORTANT AN: To give you guys an idea of where exactly this place is, go to the following URL: __http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8461/map9sz.jpg_. _Off a complete guess, I placed wave on a tiny island directly east of fire country, directly west of water. If you'll please direct your attention to the rather long island to the longer island to the south of lightning, you find the place I marked. This completely contradicts the location of Hades realm according to actual geography and several Greek myths, but since this is in Naruto's world, you'll all have to work with me._ _I take no responsibility for this image; I found it off a random search. If the link ever stops working, let me know.)_

Kratos stopped at the entrance, and turned to Naruto. "Jiraiya already knows the deal down there. Naruto, the underworld is a strange place, and it will seem…weird. You'll have urges like you do up here, only more so. Simple things like hunger. Do not act on those urges. Anything you take in other then air will trap you there. While were down here…you are going to submerge yourself in the river Styx. That will grant you the same protection that Achilles himself had. Unlike Achilles, you won't have a weak point. Now then…Naruto, my task here is to take our father from Hades. I don't know what he'll have me do for that, but it won't be easy, and I may die. I want both of you to promise me…if this ends up killing me, then take my body back, alright?" Kratos said.

Naruto could only nod his promise to his brother, shocked by the severity his brother had used. The trip had been rather jovial until that point. The group began their ascent into Hades without a single word being spoken. Down endless flights of stairs they walked. Eventually, they came to the ferryman, who was shepherding thousands of souls. As the dead left, Naruto saw the hundreds upon thousands who were unable to pay for their passage, and were left to find their own way.

Naruto thought back to his lessons on the journey of death. He remembered that those who had been buried or cremated in the correct manner could approach the ferrymen. Kratos made it a point of honor to do this for every man that died either at his hand, or as a result of his actions. Their journey did not take them to the ferryman, but past him, away from the Asphodel Fields.

"Naruto, it's extremely important that you don't screw this up. If you lose control, and let the river take you, you may end up in Tartarus, the land of the Furies. It's not a happy place. It is the same as forfeiting your soul. Don't let that happen. Jiraiya and I will help hold you with chakra strings, but you need to walk onto the river, turning your chakra into stilts. You must _slowly_ lower yourself into the water, then raise yourself up again. Jiraiya and I are going to give you a chakra safety net of sorts, but things work different here, and it might not hold. This should take five minutes." Kratos said. Naruto could only nod. His jaw was shaking. Tartarus was a place of punishment for the wicked, and none escaped it. He was scared of ending up there. He took a few minutes to calm his mind while Kratos and Jiraiya formed a web of chakra stings to hold Naruto, should anything happen. Naruto breathed deep, and then walked onto the river. He walked until he felt that water was deep enough to submerge himself, and then lowered himself into the water.

It was icy cold, and it made him numb all over. Strangely enough, he didn't feel wet. It was more as though he were burdened with the hatred and anger of trillions of souls…all those who had given their hatred to the river. Naruto understood why it was called the river of hatred, the river Styx, in that moment. He felt their rage and torment like a passing memory. He became lost in it. The feeling…it was though Ares himself poured his malice into it.

Suddenly, he felt a tug on him. Kratos and Jiraiya were frantically trying to pull him out of the water. Events went by like a montage of random scenes, one after another, all seemingly related but with nothing to fill the gaps. A flash of him being pulled out. His vision was hazy. It took twenty minutes before he came to.

"What happened?" Naruto asked.

"You were down there for almost ten minutes. You nearly drowned. We hadn't noticed because your control held. The river nearly stole your will to live Naruto by showing you all the rage and hatred of all the souls to traverse it. As terrible as the better part of your life has been, you must really want to keep it, because any other person would have given in. You are something else, bro, and you made me proud, but scare me like that again; I'll take you down here in a coffin." Kratos said. "Now let's finish this up." Kratos used his control over fire to bathe Naruto in the hottest flame to instantly harden his new shell. Naruto didn't notice the heat, or the new armor.

"Now then, Hermes once told me how he by passes all of this to get to the Hades. We can't go all the way to him, but we can get to the end of the River. It's complicated, and involves a lot of ancient magic and deity bullshit that I don't have time to explain. Jiraiya knows more about it then I do. Just grab onto me, shut your eyes, and keep them shut until I tell you." Kratos said. Naruto wondered how Jiraiya knew anything about the Underworld, but didn't say anything. He shut his eyes, and after a feeling of rushing wind, he heard Kratos tell him to open them. Before them was Cerberus, the gargantuan three headed dog. He smelled Kratos, and all three heads bent down. Each one opened it's great maw, and gave Kratos a good lick.

"Aw c'mon boy…down! I missed you too!" Kratos said, laughing. Naruto blinked in confusion.

"Why is the beastie not ripping his face off?" Naruto asked Jiraiya.

"Hades treats Cerberus like shit apparently. Tough job, being the jailor of the dead. No breaks and one screw up means no food for a few thousand years. People do sneak out now and then."

"So why can't Dad?"

"The Shiki Fuujin your father died using traps him not in the Underworld, but in the stomach of Hades." Jiraiya said. (_AN: For those of you here who do know your Greek mythology, I'm making Thanatos and Hades one and the same for my convenience.)_

"How do you know so much about all this anyway? About the Gods, the Underworld, and all that?" Naruto asked.

"Do you think I call myself the heavenly sage for nothing? I'm _extremely_ distantly related to a minor God named Adonis." Jiraiya said. "He reads my books."

"I've heard of him. Why am I not surprised he's a pervert?" Naruto said, sarcasm riddling his voice.

"Because all great men are. Even if they don't admit it." Jiraiya answered.

"Right, so why doesn't the dog rip Kratos' face off?"

"Kratos found a scroll in a cave up above, on the Island of Thanatos. (_AN: There. I worked the name in. Now I don't have to live with the guilt :D)_ It happened to be a contract with Cerberus. Hades hid it there, for some reason. He was pretty tweaked, so Kratos tells me." Jiraiya said. Before long, Kratos was leading them to the thrown of Hades and his wife, Persephone.

Upon arrival, Naruto gasped at the sight of a true god. Hades was large to be sure, but only somewhat bigger then a man. It was simply the way he looked…it seemed to perfectly suit death incarnate. The being before him was pale…paler then pale, it was as though his skin were solid bleach. They stood in incredible contrast to the deep, black orbs that Naruto assumed were eyes. A simple black robe was all the God of death wore.

"So Kratos…the mother sends her son to do her dirty work? I tell you, I'll not surrender your father so easily." Hades said. "I have yet to forgive you for stealing my pet from me." The voice of the god of death filled Naruto with a feeling of incredible cold. It made him feel like killing himself. It seemed to sap the very life from him, just to hear the words of the ruler of the Underworld.

"Hey, your name is on the contract too. Not my fault if the dog hates you. Now look, I am not leaving here without my father."

"On that we are both agreed. I don't intend for you to leave her at all." Hades said. His wife, Persephone, came out from behind the shadow of his throne and whispered to her husband. A cruel smile came over Hades face. "I have a proposition. My wife and I are bored as of late. You will compete in my arena…against whomever or whatever I choose. Your prize for victory, your father. My prize…you will give me your power, your soul, and that of your brother." Hades said. Kratos flinched. He was more then willing to give himself up. But he couldn't risk Naruto. He looked over to him. Naruto looked cold, no doubt the effects of the Underworld. But even Naruto in his sickly state was able to manage a reassuring smile.

"I trust you, Kratos. I have faith in my brother. But seriously…don't lose." Naruto said.

"Thanks, I won't. Hades! I accept on a few conditions. If I win, we all leave here, alive, intact, and free of your grasp. Two, I demand that you make an oath on the river Styx that the fight you give will be within my ability, and I want it worded _exactly_ as I tell you to. Third, that you give me all my strength, all my power, to use in that arena. No tricks. And I want an oath saying that you'll hold to those conditions, also on the River Styx." Kratos said. Hades mulled this over and smirked in the way serial killers do.

"Fine then. Tell me the oath you wish me to give." Hades said.

"State the following: 'I give my oath by the River Styx that the opponent of Kazama Kratos will be within his ability to defeat. I swear also that upon victory, he shall leave with all of his companions, meaning Kazama Naruto, Kazama Arashi, and Jiraiya, alive and unharmed in anyway, shape, or form, both mentally and physically. I also swear that during said contest, Kazama Kratos will be granted the full range of his abilities against an opponent fighting with only the power they had in life.'" Kratos said. By having Hades swear by the river Styx, it bound him to his word. To break an oath made by the river Styx would result in the breaker spending a year or more lying as though dead, for a god at least. There was no punishment for a human, until the time of judgment came after death.

Hades swore by the oath. Kratos was not told who or what he would fight, but was led to the arena. Naruto and Jiraiya were led there as well, but to the stands, not the room where Kratos was preparing to face his opponent. He had come ready to fight, and ready to die if need be. Now death wasn't an option, losing wasn't an option. He marched out to the massive arena floor. It could hold 4000 men within it. Hades magic could narrow the view of the audience. Kratos found that the entire arena was needed. He stood alone, facing an army of scarlet and gold. He saw their flags…the flags of old Greek armies. He knew both. "Shit." Was all he could say?

Across the field stood a small army…one capable of standing against any opponent. 2000 men. From the stands, Naruto was balked. "What about his oath!"

Jiraiya looked grim. "Kratos never explicitly stated just what his limits were. Hades is not an omniscient god, and as such, he can push it pretty far."

"So…who are those guys?"

"See the ones in gold? Myrmidons. The originals. They are the biggest threat. The one's in scarlet cloaks…Spartans." Jiraiya answered. Naruto then understood the true severity of the battle facing his brother. Naruto had been taught about both. Both armies made up of warriors trained since birth. These were men who knew nothing but how to kill. The Myrmidons more then proved their worth in the Trojan War. The Spartans had their fair share of glory. The Battle of Thermopolis was a testament to their bravery, their skill, and their ferocity.

"Kratos can't do this alone." Naruto said. He realized there was nothing in the rules saying he couldn't help. He jumped from his seat to the arena floor. Hades didn't look happy, but he (personally) was bound by arena rules not to interfere.

"Naruto! What are you doing!?" Kratos asked.

"Helping you. If you lose, we both die!"

"Good point. So…2000 against 2. I'll take the Myrmidons. Maybe Achilles is with them…it would be an honor to cross blades with him…now listen carefully. Half god or not, they can kill us. There's enough of them. We use everything we have. Obliterate them. Naruto, they are going to fight using old tactics. They aren't dumb enough to disregard us. I don't have a plan for this. Just kill." Kratos said.

"Will do." Naruto responded.

Kratos stepped forward and screamed to the two armies before him. "I know you both. You are my mentors…my brothers through time. I know that 300 Spartans held off the vast Persian empire! I know that it was the blades of Myrmidons that helped fall Troy! But I also know that my father killed 300 men in a single battle! I know that I am stronger then he ever was. I know that today you each die a second death!"

The roar of the two armies was one of respect for Kratos. Achilles was indeed among the Myrmidons at the edge of the field, him, his men, and the Spartans all bound to respect the will of Hades. Achilles, however, knew that this fight would end with every last one of them dead, again, this time by the hand of a true god among men.

Kratos knew the enemy would flank. It only made sense. But the ultimate aim of flanking is to circle in, and that makes an excellent target for the Heavenly Spin. He whispered his new plan to Naruto as the fight began.

Both armies marched, in perfect formation, along the walls of the arena. Just as Kratos suspected, they were going to attack from all sides at once. They were going to use up a massive amount of chakra on it. Kratos had surprise in store after that. 'These armies don't have thick enough shields to stop my arrow, and I know Apollo's old trick. This is going to be good.' "Hey Naruto." Kratos said as the soldiers closed in.

"Yeah?"

"I don't have a soldier in my army I'd rather be with me here."

"Thanks bro."

"Now…bet you a week of ramen on me that I can kill more of these guys then you." Kratos said.

Naruto breathed heavily. He could almost feel the generated rage coming from the soldiers there were facing. "Yeah…" Was the last thing said before small sea of soldiers closed in on them.


	12. Chapter 11: Victory

Author's Notes: This is easily the most action packed chapter yet. The Kazama brothers versus an army of Myrmidons and Spartans (I'll admit I was inspired by _300_), as well as the Chunin exams. I know a lot of you hated the cliff hanger, so without further delay, here's the chapter both you and I have been dying to write/read.

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Chapter 11

Victory

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Kratos and Naruto went into the Heavenly Spin at the same time. The result was devastating to the organized phalanx of the Greek army. Spear's snapped like twigs, shields were thrown from their holders, some taking the arm with them. The force of the spin was hurricane-like. Spartans and Myrmidons were sprawled all over the arena floor. Shouts of "Recover and reform!" came from commanders. Those who had retained their weapons started to shake off the blow. Kratos noted that many of the spear points that had been ripped from the shaft of their spears had found a new home in many of their former wielders.

"Naruto! Do as much damage as you can, but watch your head. You know how to dodge arrows, do exactly as I taught you the second you see one!" Kratos yelled. The Greeks that heard him were scrambling for their shields. Naruto executed the Kage Bunshin, and bolted to any Spartan he could get to. His weights and gravity seals were already off, and the effect was devastating. His blade sliced through flesh and bones like they were butter. However, this was short lived. The Spartans had not spent their time in death idly. They had trained, and adopted many of the methods of the living. Being Spartans, they took it to new extremes. Once they were up and fighting again, they let go of anything holding them back. Many of them dropped their own weights. Once they reformed, Naruto found they could nearly match his speed. Granted, they were fast, but he was feeling unnaturally tired.

They threw what spears were left unbroken. Naruto plucked one out of the air and tossed it to Kratos. He was better with them. The Spartans had already switched to short swords. Those who had retained their shields used them well against Naruto's short strikes. Without being able to weave through the ranks, Naruto's damage would be minimal to them. They matched him blow for blow as he leapt along their new first rank, trying to create an opening. It wasn't working. Naruto leapt back to re-think his tactic. He looked over to Kratos to see what he was doing. The Myrmidons were keeping their distance, forming the untraditional Turtle phalanx that let them storm the beach of Troy. They were waiting for Kratos to get impatient. Unfortunately, Kratos didn't intend to move from his starting point.

He produced his bow, and a single gold and black arrow. Naruto watched as he pulled the draw string and began whispering. A prayer to Apollo, Naruto suspected. When Kratos let go of the draw string, he shot the arrow straight up. Realizing that watching his brother wasn't helping him, he turned back to the Spartans, who were charging him again. This time they spread further apart, to avoid the devastation caused by the Heavenly Spin. The clone army Naruto had created had actually been narrowed down to a few, which Naruto quickly let go of.

They would have done differently had they known that Naruto used up a fair amount of even his massive chakra source in the first attack, and was trying to conserve his power. So Naruto gained the advantage of facing them almost one by one. Even then, it was no small task to kill even one. They met him blow for blow with swords and punches alike. Naruto, even with his massive strength, was quickly getting overwhelmed. Naruto hadn't fully mastered the Heavenly Spin, so it took time for him to go into the attack, more then enough for the battle hardened Spartans to back away. Naruto's attempt to shake them off ended as a waste of chakra. He was beginning to panic when a single arrow fell from above and embedded itself in the throat of the closest Spartan.

Naruto looked up to see hundreds of thousands of arrows falling from the sky. That had been Kratos' plan. Apollo had once made it rain arrows on the Greek army for their desecration of his temple, and the Myrmidons remembered the damage it caused. The Spartans, too, had a similar experience with the Persians. Both armies reacted quickly. They brought up their shields in an attempt to defend themselves from the deadly projectiles, but the arrows ripped through the shields. Spartans and Myrmidons dropped like flies, at least those who kept their shields to close to their bodies. The smarter ones kept the shield further away, so that the arrows, after penetrating the shields, would not have the force needed to kill them. Unfortunately, that was the vast majority.

Naruto survived the onslaught through creating a bubble of wind just above him. The arrows that fell into it were deflected at random.

Achilles was impressed. "To have pulled that trick off, he must have had the favor of Apollo…my ancestor is certainly interesting." He quickly changed his tactic. In long range, they were screwed if the boy could summon the power of the Gods. Close range, they might have a chance. Of course, Achilles didn't know that Kratos was an archer third, a shinobi second, and a swordsman first.

Leonidas, although rather insulted that his opponent had relied on old 'magic' as he called it, respected Naruto's power nonetheless. He made the decision to view the tactic as justified. His army vastly outnumbered the two brothers. He had seen what one thirteen year old boy had done. Nearly 30 Spartans dead by his hand alone. That was more then any one man he knew of could boast. And he was the younger of the two, by the look of it. The other seemed to be giving the orders. He was getting anxious for the boy the get to him.

When the arrows stopped, the Greeks seemed to have lost almost 200 to the wrath of Apollo. "Naruto! I can't pull that off again!" Kratos shouted. His brother understood immediately that Kratos didn't want to request Apollo's aid again, and that he needed to open up with everything he had. Naruto let all the memories flow back to him, and bloodlust once again filled him.

Kratos, too, let the rage come over him. He, however, wanted his father back. Kratos had been the just old enough to barley remember the sight of his mother crying. He remembered how she begged and pleaded with every God she knew to help her bring her husband back. None helped her. He bore no ill will towards the gods, but he would blame himself for eternity if he failed. He let the power of a Titan flow through him, and unleashed it. In a single bestial roar, he filled every Greek, and Hades, with an emotion none of them had felt. Fear. He leapt into the air, and began to attack the Myrmidon army from above, swooping into clean, long strikes with claws and his sword. He even ripped open the throats of his adversaries with his teeth when it was necessary.

Naruto took this as a queue to unleash his own power. On all fours, he rushed the Spartans, ripping through them. It wasn't easy, even with the massive boost he was receiving from his bloodline and his Titanic form, but he was quickly thinning the numbers of the Spartans. They put up a valiant fight against the crazed shinobi, and gave him several deep wounds. Naruto's armor-like skin was useless against their blades, which Hades had enhanced with chakra before the fight. 'Clever of the bastard.' Naruto thought.

The Myrmidons were incredible. They held their ground against the sub-human demi-God that was Kratos. Many were killed in his dives, but they did not go peacefully. Swords pierced his hawk like wings, and they leapt sometimes twenty feet into the air to strike him. They knew at this point that until Achilles faced him, Kratos would have no equal. But they wanted him to know that the first Myrmidons weren't going to roll over and die. They fought with everything they had. Some even fought off their death for one last stab into Kratos' body.

The wounds that the two brothers suffered would not heal in the Underworld as they would in the world of the living. Death was the basis of things here, not life, and as such, their ability to recover was greatly hampered. The two boys were covered in blood before long. Both that of their enemies and their own. They weren't impeded by their injuries, however, and continued to hammer away at their opponents.

Naruto, still in his Titanic form, ducked under a sword thrust, and spun and jumped, extending his blade out. He severed the head of his attacker. Another sword thrust was dodged with a roll under it, and a stab right through the gut of the Spartan. A sword went through Naruto's upper left arm, but Naruto, in the heat of battle, simply kept fighting. The soldier who struck the blow quickly found himself without a pair of legs to stand on as Naruto slashed clean through the man he had stabbed and through his attacker's limbs. A shuriken embedded itself in the man's forehead, giving him a quick death. Naruto ran at his next target in the horde, and charged a Rasengan. This Spartan caught it, and dissipated it. This Spartan was different. Looking up, Naruto saw Leonidas standing there. He recognized him from an ancient portrait of him at Thermopylae. He had practiced with chakra for over a millennium, and intended to force Naruto to keep it as a sword fight. He offered it first by ordering his men to back away. He wanted the duel to be face to face. He extended his blade straight forward, but didn't thrust at Naruto. He waited. Naruto realized what the Spartan king was after, and was happy to oblige. He dropped his demon form, not wanting to give himself the unfair advantage of improved senses and reflexes unless he needed it. Spartans appreciated a warrior who would accept a fair fight.

Jiraiya saw Leonidas defeat Naruto's Rasengan. It was in this moment he knew that Hades had played yet another dirty trick. Kratos had worded his oath to say that his enemy would have the power it had in life. To circumvent this, Hades restored their lives before the fight, granting them full range over the skills they had gained training for ages in the Underworld. Silently, the toad hermit cursed the god of death, and hoped that Kratos and Naruto had enough in them to stop what was still a horde of enemies.

Kratos flew just above the range of the ancient force below him. He soared above their heads, cleaving off a fair number. He clawed out eyes, severed limbs, and savagely ripped into his enemy. A small number had gone to support the Spartans. They were close, and unlike the Spartans, they wouldn't honor the duel, since they weren't under the orders of the Spartan king. In a flash of yellow, he appeared in front of them.

"Let the Spartans handle themselves! Your fight stays with me!" Kratos yelled. Their numbers were small, only 25. Attacking from the air was pointless against and enemy that could quickly divide up and use the space to avoid his attacks. Still in his demonic form, Kratos let the wolfish side take over. He went to the ground, on all fours at first, and dashed with blinding speed toward the Myrmidons. He caught a knife thrown at him, and tossed it into the throat of the closest Greek. When he reached that same Greek, he pulled the blade out and let the warrior choke on his blood. He rolled to the left, and cut open the stomach of the next Myrmidon, letting his guts fall out of him. Kratos stabbed the man in the head so he wouldn't suffer a painful re-death.

It struck him just then that he was killing men who were dead. While he took fractions of seconds to think about how that was possible, a Myrmidon blade found its way into his hip. That brought him out of his pondering and, after removing the sword and taking it from its wielder, twirled it twice in a circle and brought it down through the top of the man's head. He used the other sword for a quick slash to neck of the next Myrmidon in line. He shoved his free claw/hand/paw through the heart of another, and simply crushed the chest of another into that man's heart. He gripped his sword with both hands to help him pump more chakra into it, and activated the seal of fire on the blade. He tried to slash through one of the Myrmidons, but the blade absorbed the energy, giving his opponent's sword the same laser like effect of Kratos'.

"Shit!" Kratos said as the leaned back to avoid the searing hot blade that could cut him open with ease. Kratos quickly performed the second traditional jutsu he had used in the fight, Suiton: Hahonryū (Water Release: Rapid Crasher; Yamato uses this). A ball of water formed in his hand, and he fired it at the blade. Kratos used his chakra to make the water as cold as possible, well below ordinary freezing temperatures. It cooled the blade, since it only absorbed a small amount of Kratos' chakra. Kratos then used a Rasengan to rip into his enemy. Keeping the little ball of death going, he dashed into one opponent after the next, tossing each aside as he finished them off.

Naruto brought his own blade up and struck Leonidas'. The duel began from there. Leonidas had strength, speed, and talent. Naruto knew this would be no easy match. Leonidas stepped forward first, and Naruto smiled. _"Never be too eager to rush an opponent, Naruto. It's a good way to get killed, being headstrong."_ His brother had said, over and over. Naruto planted his feet and waited. Just before Leonidas came within range for a fatal strike, he rolled around to Naruto's backside, and jabbed his blade at the opening. Naruto twirled and swatted the Spartan's blade away. Leonidas used the momentum from the deflection of the blade to spin quickly and strike Naruto before he could parry. Naruto saw the sword strike low in his second sight, and jumped. He landed on the sword, and kicked the Spartan king in the face. This was when Muai Thai paid off. He broke the nose of the Spartan king, stunning him long enough for what Naruto thought would be a fatal blow. He was shocked when Leonidas shrugged off the broken nose and countered instead of wincing in pain. Leonidas set his nose in place, wiped away some blood, and laughed. Naruto scanned the circle of Spartans around him for a moment. Their fight was attracting a crowd.

Kratos watched the duel from the air between his dives into the remaining Myrmidons. They still had a little less then half their force left. He was being too slow. Only 724 kills for him, counting the ones he got from the arrows. Naruto had reduced the Spartans to around 300, but Kratos knew what 300 Spartans could do. Many of the remaining 300 were those same brave souls who had faced the Persian army, a feat he would never have attempted. What's more, those Spartans held their place for three days… He, however, had no time to worry about his brother. A burst of slicing air bit into his flesh, and ripped a gash in his wing. He fell to the ground. In front of him, blade extended, was Achilles. Kratos smiled.

"I won't face you like this…" he said. He reverted back to his human form, as Naruto had done at the start of his duel with Leonidas. Neither Achilles nor Kratos made a move. They just stared at each other for a good while. Before his adrenaline rush faded, Kratos wanted the action to start. He faked dropping his guard. A change in his facial expressions and a slight lowering of his sword did the trick. Achilles charged at what he thought was an opening.

Kratos was astonished at the speed. He barley had time to bring his blade up for a block. When their blades clashed, he met Achilles dead in his eyes. They shared the same radiant blue. Kratos used an old trick, he switched sword hands. His sword dropped below Achilles', and he swiped at the legendary fighter. The attack was dodged, but Achilles had a scratch on him.

"Not bad." He said. Kratos then used his now free hand to toss a few shuriken at Achilles, who deflected them. They were gas bombs, henged to look like shuriken. Achilles quickly dispersed it with another air blast.

"How did you learn to do that anyway…?" Kratos asked. Achilles answered with a spear. Kratos drew out his own from a seal. What followed was a fight worthy of becoming a legend. Both warriors held nothing back, unleashing everything they could. Kratos thrust his spear out, and Achilles tried to duck and swipe. Kratos jumped it, and Achilles swung the butt of his spear at Kratos in an attempt to swat him in mid air. Kratos used his chakra to stick to the spear, and took the opportunity of his opponent's weakened defenses to deliver a power swipe at Achilles' neck. Achilles dropped his spear and flipped back, dodging the attack. He reverted back to his short sword.

Kratos and he exchanged blow after blow, neither gaining ground. Each time one seemed to gain an edge, the other would show some new facet of their power that had been unaccounted for. Kratos pushed as far as his human form could go, testing his limits with every swing. The Myrmidons watching the fight couldn't follow the blows, but could feel them. The power behind each swing was massive, and sent small shock waves rippling through the dead air of the Underworld.

In the stands, Jiraiya looked concerned. After nearly an hour of fierce combat, they still had a little fewer than 1000 soldiers to deal with. The duels that Kratos and Naruto were engaged in had been taking awhile. Leonidas and Achilles were powerful enough in life to imprint themselves into legends, and with hundreds upon hundreds of years to advance their skills; they were a match for the half-gods.

From his dark throne, Hades smiled at the spectacle. These two had provided almost four hours of entertainment. Persephone hadn't looked this happy in ages; that much he was certain of. And the souls of the dead that had come to watch, they certainly wouldn't try to leave the Underworld anytime soon. Although it had never been remarked on, the entertainment that comes from watching organized fights was rarely provided to the dead, perhaps once in a few hundred years. Despite all those advantages, none of this was the reason for this fight. Every bit of blood stained in the Underworld provided his partner with a little more power. Hades was no fighter, and was content to rule his domain. But he reveled in death, and one of his fellow god's was rather good at causing it. 'This much death…it's so refreshing. And it will all cause more! Soon, with this, Ares will have the power he needs to break one of _them_ from their prison…and then…" Hades actually laughed a little at the end of his quiet sentence. His wife, as vile as he, chuckled with him.

Naruto had a few good cuts, but he used chakra to prevent too much blood loss. Leonidas was tenacious on top of everything else, and like a wolf protecting going after its prey, he kept at it. Naruto was starting to see a pattern. Leonidas would start defensively, and wait for Naruto's attacks to being gaining momentum, at which point he would fly into a complex series of slashes, blocks, and counters, and he would begin to push Naruto back. Naruto started using jutsu before long. Kage Bunshin began to hack away at the Spartans watching the fight, giving him more room.

Leonidas' shield had blocked a fair number of Naruto's strikes, and had the gashes to show for it. He had bashed it into Naruto's head once, not realizing that Naruto's head was very hard. It had a dent in it to show for it, but it still addled Naruto. As much as Naruto hated the bastards, he couldn't discount that the Hyuuga's attacks were damn useful. Using the Gentle Fist style, Naruto sealed off a few tenketsu, and Leonidas had to drop the shield, as his arm became little more then dead weight.

Leonidas had to keep a defensive stance from that point on. He couldn't perfectly defend that side of his body with a short sword and no shield. The dead weight of his arm slowed him down, and put him off balance. Naruto used this to his advantage, carefully feinting attacks on Leonidas' right, and stabbing at the last second for the left, only to feint again in order to land several powerful punches to the Spartans ribs. Naruto could feel them crack with each blow, yet Leonidas didn't give in to the intense pain. Still, after almost an hour of intense fighting, Naruto could see victory in his grasp. All around him, Spartan after Spartan fell to the small clone army. It was then that he realized how few he created. His average was at least fifty, although he could do more. He had pumped more chakra then normal in, and yet, he produced 30 clones. 'What is going on here?' Naruto thought. He quickly berated himself for letting his mind slip from the fight, and shifted his focus back to Leonidas, who seemed to be re-gaining the use of his arm. 'Already?!' Naruto thought. Leonidas couldn't pick up a shield, put he could at least move his arm.

The Spartan king made use of every advantage he could, even drawing on his own chakra. He was running of sheer bloodlust and battle rage at this point, but it was enough to show Naruto that he didn't have what it took to take out the Spartan king in a straight fight. Naruto rolled under the Spartan king and tried to kick him in the crotch. This served only to further enrage Leonidas, who was beginning to make savage swipes. The other Spartans cheered him on as he landed a few hits.

While Naruto at least was on even footing, Kratos was beginning to have genuine difficulty with Achilles. Unleashing some of his best jutsu, Achilles mastery over wind defeated them all. He created miniature hurricanes around himself, dispersing everything Kratos could throw at him. Kratos was close to losing hope of coming out of this fight. Achilles wasn't losing energy, but Kratos didn't have much to spare, despite his being a half-god. Already he had pushed himself far beyond his normal limits; going of what he thought was pure adrenaline. As he began to lose sight of the victory he had thought himself assured, he thought of his brother. His death was a senseless waste. His mother would lose everything…she still grieved over the loss of his father, and he couldn't imagine what foolish thing she would do if she lost both her sons getting him back. 'Is this whole damn life a tragedy?' Kratos thought as ducked under another swipe. Achilles had put a large amount of wind behind this, and as it his him, Kratos lost his footing for the first time in nearly three years. He recovered with just barley enough time to block the next strike. He brought his foot up to Achilles' gut, which gained him a little time to get up off the ground.

Still, he could tell he was losing. His vision kicked in, showing ghostly overlays of his mother's fury. Naruto having the very life sucked from him by Hades' dark power. The last image was one he wasn't expecting, that of himself. His hair a dark red, his eyes totally black. He stood over Artemis, and slashed her throat open, and behind him, the monstrous figure of Ares, dripping in blood, the blood of his friends. The visions brought forth a new urge within him, to fight not for his own goal, but for that of everyone around him. To gain freedom not by succumbing to the power that Ares feared, but to a kind of strength he didn't know he had.

Achilles backed away upon seeing Kratos' golden glow. Kratos' eyes seemed to stare a thousand yards, and then dead locked with Achilles'. A simple word was all Kratos said before what could only be called a complete and utter rampage began. He didn't yell it, but muttered it quietly, almost under his breath; so that Achilles could just barley hear it. "No." Kratos said. It wasn't directed at Achilles, but the dark puppet master holding his strings. Hades heard the word loud and clear, and he shuddered.

With an astonishing burst of speed Kratos rushed forward and knocked Achilles' sword away. The ancient Myrmidon brought out a shield of air to defend himself. It should have torn even Kratos to shreds, but it didn't. Kratos exploded in golden light, and tore the bubble of wind, and grabbed Achilles by the throat. In his eyes was a kind of fury Achilles knew well. It was the same fury he had in his eyes after his _king_, Agamemnon, had tried to steal his lover from him. Achilles knew Kratos wasn't going to let his brother die, or let any further tragedy befall his family. In those eyes, Kratos told him and every Greek in that stadium that they were no longer facing a man, a beast, or even a half-god. For as long as that divine fury was in him, they were fighting a God.

Achilles closed his eyes, and waited for his second death. At least it wouldn't be off a fluke, he figured. As he felt the blade plunge into his stomach, his managed to get in a few last words. "Thank Zeus she lived…and that they survived all them way down to you…"

Kratos didn't stop to register them as the hero died for a second time. The Myrmidons around him took no time to mourn. The charged and they died. Kratos was no longer killing them one by one. Blast after blast of golden energy engulfed them, leaving only the molten metal of their destroyed spears behind as an indication of their existence.

Naruto could see the golden flashes from the other side of the stadium, and saw the Spartans around him leave. Leonidas was shouting to them, demanding that they all aid the Myrmidons. The Spartans were genuinely terrified at the storm that was raging across the field. The Myrmidons weren't being defeated; they were being slaughtered, ripped to pieces by the sheer force Kratos was releasing. Their bodies couldn't handle the energy that merely came off him. When he directed it as an attack, it devastated their ranks.

The Myrmidons and Spartans fell by the hundreds. Naruto and Leonidas eventually just stopped dueling and watched. It wasn't long before Kratos was standing in nothing more then a pile of ash and blood, his body the crimson color of what remained of his foes. What bodies weren't simply burned away lay in bloody crumbles on the floor, hardly reminiscent of the humans they once were. Leonidas felt a shiver run down his spine. Kratos turned to look at him. It was the same stare he had given Xerxes in the moment of his death. (_FYI: for those of you who don't know what really happened at Thermopylae, Leonidas wasn't the last Spartan to die. Xerxes beheaded and crucified him, and gave his body back to the Spartans forty years later. Nice guy, wasn't he.)_ Leonidas was certain he was about to die as Kratos summoned a spear to his hand, one that Kratos had forged. Leonidas was surprised to say the least when Kratos turned, and threw the spear at Hades. Hades noticed the spear embed itself in his shoulder, and plucked it out. The wound healed quickly, but through the slash in his black robes, one could plainly see that the pale skin of the God of death had a scar. After delivering that final blow, Kratos feinted, and his golden glow disappeared from him.

Leonidas stared in bewilderment at the furious warrior who had ripped apart more then half of an army of 2000. Achilles' heir was a force to be reckoned with, but Leonidas wasn't going to let him leave without a mark of his own. The mark he intended to give was no injury, but honor. Leonidas took of the scarlet red cape he wore, and removed one from a fallen Spartan. He handed both to Naruto, smiling.

"You deserve that cape as much as any of the men that lie here." Leonidas said. Naruto nodded. "One for you…one for the God." Leonidas said. Naruto didn't want to kill Leonidas, but the terms of victory were clear. Every single enemy had to die. Naruto made the last blow painless, a quick stab right through the brain. Hades got up from his seat, and clapped. Naruto gave him the vilest look the young shinobi could manage.

"Quite entertaining. Thank you very much for the bloodshed, and you can thank your brother for the gift…you'll see what I mean soon enough. You can have your father; he'll be back here soon enough." Hades said. In the center of the arena, a black pool formed, and out of it arose an unconscious Kazama Arashi. Naruto would have taken time to revel under any other circumstance, but he wanted to get the hell out of there. Jiraiya leapt from the stands, and picked up Arashi.

Naruto picked up his brother, and they walked out of the stands to what could be described as a locker area, and washed the blood off of his brother and himself. They both had several deep cuts, which Jiraiya tended too as best he could. Naruto couldn't take his eyes off his father.

"He'll be out for awhile. I don't know about Kratos." Jiraiya said. Naruto didn't respond. Naruto was too busy thinking over the amount of death he had seen in one day. His had been forced to look into the heart of the world of shinobi, and that was death. Naruto vowed that if he ever found himself in front of Hades again, he would at the very least match the scratch on the death god's left shoulder.

It was nearly two hours before Kratos woke up. He remembered being on the ropes in his fight with Achilles, and his vision. What he did not understand is that his vision had not come true. His brother was alive. Somehow, he understood that his vision was the result of his battle in the Underworld, but he did not understand why it had not come to pass. "Does anyone want to tell me what happened? Naruto's not a lifeless corpse, and I'm still alive, plus Dad is laying right there. I'm assuming we won, but I have no idea how. How in hell did you kill all those people Naruto? You're not that powerful yet…" Kratos said.

"You killed them. You went all golden and just ripped through people. Achilles was the first, and after that, you just burned your way through anyone who got near you. I've never felt power like that." Naruto said. Kratos looked over to Jiraiya.

"You made the Kyuubi look like a small rat. It was crazy. I am really glad I'm not your enemy…" Jiraiya said, remembering the intensity of killing intent that had washed over him in the stands. That was pretty far away from Kratos, and he still nearly wet himself.

"Right…well…apart from a massive head ache I'm alright. Hold on to me and I can get us too the entrance to Hades. Then I need to rest again. How long do we have to get to Konoha?" Kratos said.

"About one and a half days." Jiraiya said.

"Let's get a move on. When do you think Dad will wake up?" Kratos asked. Jiraiya and Naruto just shrugged.

* * *

_**Konoha: The Day of the Chunin Exams**_

Sarutobi was growing concerned. Naruto was a minute away from being disqualified, and if he was with Kratos, that probably meant they were both dead. Sarutobi didn't think it likely. However, Naruto was not his only concern. Hiring the Myrmidons was by far the most intelligent thing he had ever done. Kratos' spies got him excellent information. He knew the intimate details of the joint attack between the Sand and the Sound, at least those that Orochimaru had planned out. He was as of yet unaware of the fact that the Kazekage was dead. What he did know was that the attack was going to begin at the stadium with a genjutsu that would place a most of the audience in a deep sleep. Following this, Orochimaru would isolate himself and Sarutobi using the sound four. That was his first mistake, picking a primary target that wouldn't guarantee the downfall of the village. Stratos had a number of strategies that easily countered Orochimaru's attempt to kill Sarutobi, the easiest of which to pull off was a group of Myrmidon elites fully armored surrounding the aged Hokage in disguise.

The Sand and the larger force of the Sound were already in place outside the village, and they would rush the main gates of Konoha, which had been rigged with special seals on the back side. They were ceremonially opened on the day of the tournament, but the instant the attack started, a series of specially crafted explosive seals would activate. These were designed not create blast, but thrust. The would burn the hell out of the inner wall, but the wall was designed to withstand things like that. Stratos had few surprises in store for them after that, but wouldn't say what the surprise was.

Although he didn't put much stock in it, he had Athena's blessing, and Artemis was going to get some "target practice." Neither could officially fight for Konoha since both were already the patron (or rather, matron) goddesses of various cities. Long since destroyed or not, they were allied to their people, and unless those people formed an alliance, they were bound. A blessing was another matter entirely, and Artemis was just practicing her bow work on anything outside of Konoha. Sarutobi had to admit, when they worked in his favor, he loved loopholes.

At the moment, he was counting down silently the time Naruto had to get to the arena. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw something moving at bullet speed through the air.

"I'm here! Don't disqualify me!" Naruto yelled, panting as his feet touched the ground. Kratos was with him. The new judge, Genma, announced that the first match would commence as planned and asked Kratos to clear the field. He flashed out of existence, causing anyone in the audience who recognized the Hiraishin to gasp, at least those who didn't know him as a Kazama. He winked into an empty seat next to Hyuuga Hiashi.

Another masked figure sat down next to Sarutobi. "Hey. Long time no see." Said the cloaked figure. Sarutobi recognized the voice, and nearly got tears in his eyes. "Hold em' back old man. I don't want anyone to recognize me just yet, and you bawling all over me is going to attract questions…" the figure said quietly, looking at the Kazekage who was raising an eyebrow. "My son Kratos is already caught up on the attack. He talked to Stratos at their command center. This battle will be over quick. Kratos taught me his improvement on my Hiraishin on the way home, so the two of us can wreak hell. When we are done with that…_I have a little matter to bring up with this village about how they treat my son_…." Arashi said, practically spitting the last part. Sarutobi relied on years of experience as a shinobi to get a hold of his emotions, and sat, stoically watching Genma start the fight.

"Naruto is going to destroy Neji, isn't he?" Sarutobi said. He saw Kratos hand something to Hyuuga Hiashi, whose face, if possible, went even paler. His veins were twitching. Sarutobi had an idea of what might that scroll might be, given that the Hyuuga had as of late seemed…on edge.

"You have no idea." Arashi responded. "I am proud of my sons…they are…incredible. Kratos seems a little…distracted as of late. So tell me, how's my wife?"

"Good. You could have told me you married a goddess." Sarutobi said.

"She wanted it kept quiet. Now look, the match is starting." Arashi said.

Neji was overconfident. His speech about destiny and all that crap made it abundantly clear. Naruto decided that he would shock the stoic, nihilistic rock that the arrogant Hyuuga was standing on. He slid into a stance his opponent and everyone sitting anywhere near Kratos recognized perfectly, as well as the Konoha shinobi in the audience. The Gentle Fist.

"It seems, Neji, that my fate isn't what you thought?" Naruto said, mockingly. Neji felt the bottom of his stomach drop. Naruto was clearly ready to rip him apart. He was wearing full Myrmidon armor, and in the past month, Neji had been looking on that group, hoping to glean some information about what fighting style Naruto was going to his him with.

"So you can copy my stance. This will not help you without the Byakugan. Now, stop trying to defy your fate." Neji said, trying to maintain a stoic appearance. Naruto saw the sweat on his face, and knew it was a farce. Neji wasn't one to rush in, so Naruto opened the fight, not with a move of the Gentle Fist, but instead by firing multiple blasts of chakra at Neji. The Hyuuga promptly shot forward, easily seeing that the blasts had an arc to them which he could get under.

Naruto was counting on it, and the Hyuuga nearly met with a drop kick, but managed to duck it. Neji tried to seal off the tenketsu in Naruto's legs, but found he couldn't hit them. On landing, Naruto swept at Neji's legs, and tripped him. Neji caught himself on his hand, and quickly performed the Heavenly Spin. It was here that Naruto decided to truly astonish the Hyuuga. His brother wanted him to use the clan's techniques purely to please the crowd, since that was the real key in these battles.

Naruto launched his own spin, in the reverse direction of Neji's. He, however, had a much larger bubble of chakra, and Neji was blasted away, feeling the force from Naruto's attack as well as the backlash from the failure of his own. He quickly dropped the farce of being calm, and looked visibly pissed.

"As I said, Neji. Fate only dictates what you let it. You trust your clan's strength to guide your fate. Because of that, your destiny _is_ predetermined. My brother taught me to trust the strength of my family, but to never allow it to take precedence over my own." Naruto said as his hair turned blood red. Neji started shacking. Kiba was still in the hospital after what Naruto had done to him.

Hiashi was wrenching his robe to avoid attacking Kratos. Another Hyuuga was not so reserved. He rushed at the Myrmidon leader, and was promptly pinned to the ground. Kratos blinked, seeing that it was an elder. "I could kill you right now. It would be legal, too. You Hyuuga should actually read my damn contract; you might be a little smarter about circumventing me. Lucky for you, I don't want you dead. I am going to need every soldier I can get, and I admit, your techniques are useful. Instead, I am going to teach you humility. Watch your prodigy get taken apart by a dead last…by someone trained by a _mercenary_. And know that when he uses your techniques, it's another slap in your stupid arrogant faces. This is what comes of acting like you have." Kratos said, smirking. He sealed off enough of the elder's tenketsu to prevent him from moving and propped him up against a wall so he could watch the fight. He promptly sat down and continued to enjoy the sight of Naruto mercilessly battering Neji around.

Most of the Rookie 9 had counted on Naruto putting up a decent fight after what he did to Kiba, but this was actually comedic. Neji wasn't getting beaten. He was getting taken apart. In five minutes, Naruto gave him a bloody nose, black eyes, and some nasty bruises. Everyone who hated the Hyuuga actually gained a little respect for Naruto. Unfortunately, most of the crowd hated him more, and chalked it up to the influence of the demon.

Down in the arena, Neji was getting desperate. His Gentle Fist tactics were useless against Naruto, who could walk right up and mercilessly beat up on the Hyuuga. When Naruto began using Muai Thai, it got downright merciless. Naruto's whole body was one big lump of iron, and he had monstrous strength behind each blow. Neji could barley stand.

"…I want you to know, Neji, that I'm not doing this to make a fool out of you. I'm doing it to accomplish your goal…in a sense. You want the main house to look like idiots, I want the Hyuuga to look like idiots. They wasted your mind entirely on their style, never bothering to think that by simply wearing the right kind of armor, your style is useless. Tell you what; I'm going to lose the gear. You deserve some chance. Take off the weights Neji. You can't beat me with them on." Naruto said. He didn't have a scratch on him, for all Neji's efforts.

Neji quickly lost the weights he had on and charged Naruto. The Hyuuga had fair speed. Naruto flipped over and brought his heel down into Neji's head, sending the Hyuuga's face into the dirt. Naruto placed his hand on the Hyuuga's back and pumped chakra into his system.

"This fight isn't ending yet." Naruto said. Neji pulled himself out of the ground, and shook his head. It was humiliating, what was being done to him. It reminded him of the things the main house did. Neji was clearly pissed off. He went back into his Gentle Fist stance and Naruto charged him, deciding to entertain the Hyuuga's notion that his style would defend him.

Neji starting fighting defensively, knowing his only chance at winning this was to his him with the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms) . Naruto took his armor off in his overconfidence, and Neji was going to make that his weapon. He would let Naruto attack, look for his opening using his Byakugan, and when it was there, he would strike a few tenketsu to trap Naruto in one place, and then finish him.

Naruto found himself weaving through Neji's strikes, both of them predicting the next move of the other. Naruto's eyes were a few seconds faster, and Neji was losing ground. Neji didn't seem to understand that Naruto was well beyond Chunin level, perhaps even mid-Jounin in his abilities. Training with Myrmidons was intense, and in a shortened time span, it was fell on Earth, but surviving it guaranteed one would become a fighting machine with a deadly arsenal in one's pocket. It was this that Neji came to understand fully while fighting Naruto. Kratos had turned made his brother virtually unstoppable to someone of his level. But eventually, Neji found the spot he was looking for.

Naruto tried to flip behind Neji, but Neji saw it coming and dropped a kunai on that spot. It didn't rip open Naruto's hardened hand, but it caused the shinobi to go off balance, and Neji kicked him through the air. By the time Naruto got up, he was well within the attack.

"I admit, you fought well, but no one can escape their fate. You are within my range of divination, Naruto. This fight is over!" Neji said, launching himself into the attack. In his rush at Naruto, he caught a wide grin on the face of the shinobi. The moment the first strike landed, that Naruto burst into a cloud of smoke, and revealed itself to be the very kunai Neji had used to throw Naruto off balance. Standing in place of that kunai was Naruto.

"A well used Kawarimi…indeed you seem to be grasping." Neji said.

"Neji Neji Neji, you are truly the fool here." Naruto said. Neji then saw Naruto's stance, and went wide eyed. He could see how Naruto might be able to understand the concept behind the Heavenly Spin, and duplicate it. He had done it. But this…without the Byakugan, there wasn't a chance in hell of duplicating it.

"What do you think you are trying to pull?!" Neji shouted angrily.

"From the moment this fight started…you have been within _my _range of divination, Neji." Naruto said. As Neji stared into the black depths of Naruto's eyes, he knew he was done for. "This fight is over, Neji. Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō!" Naruto shouted, knowing Neji didn't have a prayer. For added effect, he dropped his gravity seals, making the attack happened so fast that all anyone saw was Neji convulsing, and then fall to the floor.

Everyone knew Naruto had dragged that fight out for one reason, and one reason only. He was spitting in the face of the most powerful clan in Konoha. And it worked. By the end of the fight, not a single Hyuuga save Hyuuga Hinata was left in the stands. As Neji lay on the ground unconscious, Naruto walked up to him. Genma thought Naruto was going to kill the Hyuuga, and was about to stop the match, when he saw Naruto removed Neji's forehead protector to look at the seal on Neji's forehead.

"My final proof, Neji, that fate can be undone. My brother set me free, I see no reason to not do so for you." Naruto muttered. Using knowledge his father gave to him on the journey home, he undid the Caged Bird Seal on Neji's forehead, and replaced it with one of his own. One which guaranteed that the tool of enslavement could never be placed on Neji again. "We aren't slaves Neji, unless we choose to be." Naruto said. He left the arena without another word.

* * *

Post Notes:

Naruto got a little deep, for him anyway. I have a reason for that, so don't get on me about it. Those of you who wanted to see a little more family interaction going on, the next chapter is full of it. This was nearly thirteen pages of non-stop action. I like Naruto's match, it came out as I wanted it. He just got thrashed. It wasn't even a fight, Neji just got completely and utterly wrecked. I'm not done with the Hyuuga either, I know a lot of people with superiority complexes, and so I am going to take out my urge to knock them down a few pegs in this story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter; I loved envisioning the whole thing. On a completely unrelated note, I went to Ultra Fest in Miami, so if you went, tell me what you thought. I was having an awesome time on Saturday, but then, I managed to get in Carl Cox's tent before it started pouring rain. I actually managed to get a little room in there too. So, if you went, send a shout out.


	13. Chapter 12: The Calm

Author's Notes:

GOOD CHRIST this was a long break for me. NONE OF MY STORIES ARE DEAD. I'm back, I'm alive, etc. I took a trip, came back, and spent a good while too long re-rooting myself. Let me just say that the great tradition of the American "quest" has proven to be alive and well. Me and three friends simply got into a classic Volkswagen bus, and took it everywhere we could. I've seen the world, and let me tell you, it was incredible.

The greatest result of this trip? I started work on a novel based on my experiences. I have a good story so far, and a great title. Anyone who's interested, I'm hoping to get it published, so when it's done, I'll let everyone know. The more of you who say you'd be willing to buy it, the better chance I'll have. But that's a long way off.

The rest of the tournament fights, I really don't care about them. A Greek legend follows its hero. For those of you unsure who my main hero is, it'll be clear after the Sound attack. So anyway, here is the next installment of Heirs of the Warrior. I know, I know, it's been WAY too long. Forgive me, I was having life changing experiences.

* * *

Chapter 12

The Calm

* * *

Naruto left the arena without saying a word to anyone. He simply went home. Up in the stands, his father, mother, and brother followed suit, having seen the fight they were interested in. Kratos had already informed his brother that there wouldn't be another round for him.

The journey home had been a quiet one for Naruto, who had finally felt the full burden of the curse that came with his bloodline. Even if his victims were already dead, the rules applied. As it turned out, using his Titanic form worsened it. He could sleep, but it wasn't pleasant. When he was awake, it was nothing short of awkward. There he was, standing next to a man who, apart from a historical familiarity, was a total stranger and yet also his father. Of course, none of this was Arashi's fault, but this made it no easier for Naruto to work up the courage to talk to him.

Arashi tried to get a few words in her and there, but Naruto forced Jiraiya to train him the whole way back. When Zabuza and Haku joined them, they had their own additions to offer. Naruto felt it was time he face up to it. This was his father after all. In truth, he really didn't want to inform his Dad as to his treatment by the village. It brought enough pain to him, and his Mother still walked in to his room every night and laid a hand on his shoulder, and for a few minutes, cried quietly, whenever she thought he was asleep.

It wasn't just Naruto that had become suddenly introverted. While Kratos had an easier time speaking to his father, he had also been acting strange. He seemed strangely distant and lost in his thoughts, as if he were worried about some event yet come to pass. Naruto found himself preoccupied with his brother's odd behavior, worried about whatever it was a fighter like his brother would be afraid of.

Once at his home, he wasn't surprised to find his family had beaten him there. Artemis was in the garden playing with Kyuubi. There was a strange tension, which was broken when the fox went barreling through the room with the huntress' bow in his mouth, with her at his heels. That made for a good few minutes of laughter from everyone, save Kratos. He only looked over and smiled. When that settled down, Arashi looked at his two sons.

"You two…I may have missed it, but you have both grown tremendously…I already have heard about your life Kratos. Mount Olympus…I'm not surprised you've come so far. Naruto, I can only say I'm sorry…for whatever it's worth." Arashi got up and knelt so that his eyes met those of his son. "I honestly believed that my village would respect my last wish. I placed you with an unimaginable burden…and you've suffered for it...I don't deserve it…but can you forgive me?" Arashi asked. He was practically crying, only years of training himself in reserving his emotions prevented him from doing so. Naruto stood for a few minutes, staring. It wasn't that he couldn't forgive his father, which was something he unconditionally did. What he was trying to figure out was if he was the Hokage, could he have done the same. Finally, he nodded.

"You only did what you had to do to protect our village…I practically worshiped you for it, even after I knew I was a victim of it. I can forgive you for giving me that fox for as long as I had to put up with him….father." Naruto said. His father practically crushed his rib cage in. That alone left him without any air, sustaining that kind of pressure for a few minutes…Naruto was blue before Kratos decided it was time to intervene. After Arashi let go, and Naruto caught his breathe, he yelled out "Just don't do that again!" Arashi laughed, and smiled.

"No promises. Kratos tells me you mastered the Rasengan? How long did it take you? The damn thing took me years."

"It took me a little over one day and night." Naruto said. Arashi sweat dropped. He swung around, pointing to Kratos.

"How long did it take you?"

"A little shorter, but then, I had better control at the time. That, and Jiraiya was an idiot about the direction of the spin." Arashi had small rivulets of tears coming from his eyes.

"Why do kids ALWAYS have to upstage their parents!?" Arashi asked to no one in particular. Kratos and Naruto smiled at that.

The family spent the day in much this way, simply going about the house. Naruto spent a good deal of time with his father, talking about the beginning to his shinobi career, about the bell test and having Kakashi for a sunset. Arashi was disappointed somewhat in his student, but he never figured Kakashi would be so great a teacher. He could teach one student yes, but he focused on the best and left the rest to what do what they could. After an hour or so, Athena asked if she could speak with him. Naruto obliged, and went off looking for his brother.

* * *

Kratos had been in his room, quietly shifting into the state of mind he put up for a full-fledged battle. It wasn't like a one-on-one fight. By the end of this, he would be drenched in blood, very possibly a good amount of his own. Friends could and will be killed, and he'll be right there to watch them die. He had two mental shields to guard against the pain of war. The first, sheer hatred for his enemy. It was a practice his combat teacher had taught him. He had instructed Kratos to always hate his enemy, to regard him with boundless fury, because if you hate that enemy enough, you will kill him, without fail. That was what Kratos was doing now, and it started with absolving the guilt he had in what was to come. He would let the hatred out in full when he saw his enemy. For now, doing so would interfere with creating the second layer.

The second layer was always difficult to perfect. Of what few fears he had, none were more prevalent then to die with regret. He had to deal with it, and before ever battle he would think on what to do with his time. Always, he found himself knowing how he would spend his last hours on Earth. In Artemis' arms.

* * *

Naruto checked his brother's room last, expecting Kratos to be out practicing or directing his men, not relaxing. To his surprise, he found Kratos and Artemis asleep on the bed. Leaving them to be, he went to relax back in the garden of his home.

Sitting there, he quietly sat and meditated until Kratos came downstairs, dressed in his full armor, replacing the cape with a new battle cloak. Naruto was familiar with it, Kratos had made it recently. He made it specifically to house weapons and to be resistant to elemental attacks from fire, water, and lightning, simply by its material. The rest of its resistance to elemental attacks, including those of wind and earth (assuming it won't just crush you), came from a myriad of seals applied to the cloak. Underlying all of this were leather straps woven into the tough fabric to offer some minor extra protection. Combined with the ultra hard armor underneath, worn on the Myrmidon, it was capable of stopping an arrow point or the edge of a sword with ease.

His weapons, of which he seemed to have every one he didn't need to seal displayed, were a testament to Kratos' skill as a smith. None was unadorned. Kratos firmly believed that a warrior should take the utmost care crafting his arsenal, that he should customize each piece, and come to know it in every way. Each weapon was organized in slots on the underside of his cloak, and up his sleeves. They were organized firstly by their purpose, then their seal type. He wore the cloak open at the moment. Some of his weapons were truly fantastic, with intricate and detailed runes as well as seals carved into tinted metal. In particular, he had five swords which were his masterpieces. The two he had displayed were the first and second, the blades he forged for Hephaestus himself in a challenge to forge his own blade.

The other three were subsequently forged in Hephaestus' fire, each superior to the last. Kratos had shown Naruto the final sword, his ultimate creation, as he said he only drew it when absolutely necessary. But Naruto saw the seals on Kratos' forehead glowing, as the swords had just been put in. Three thin red lines. The lines would fade soon, giving the enemy no ability to guess at the what the seals might be. Kratos couldn't bring these into the Underworld, unfortunately, not all of them, if he had taken too many of the weapons, Hades would have felt them, and as lord of that realm he would have had the right to demand one as a token of passage. Kratos rather liked his work to remain in his own hands, so he brought only the first. For this battle, he was going to bring all five, and if he brought the fifth, he meant to use it.

"These are all yours, by the way." Kratos said, pointing at his forehead. "Eventually."

"What? I couldn't take those…" Naruto protested. "I'd rather make my own!"

"Well, if nothing else, you can have them as examples. I had hundreds of such masterpieces to study when I made each. Hephaestus will expect you to at least appreciate his work when you see it. My work is still not equal to his. Only a true god can shape a weapon from his finest forge and equipment. It's heat comes from the fire of the sun itself. A blade from that forge is beyond perfection. Far beyond. _(Author's Note: For anyone who plays WoW, let me give you a scale for what I am talking about here. I don't know what the level 70 legendary weapons are, but combine them. If there aren't any, then go back to the days of the level 60 cap and use the relevant weapons. Now add crack. This is Kratos' fifth sword.)_

"You're rambling. Something wrong Kratos?" Naruto asked, concerned.

"No. Just…tension before a battle. C'mon, it starts in fifteen minutes.

"I'll be right there. Need to get my gear."

"I left you a battle cloak set, some finer pieces included. Save the swords, of course." Kratos said, smiling. "It's replaced your old armor. You're not my student anymore; you'll have a trip to go on after this fight. Mount Olympus. I want you well equipped for it. If you want to anyway. It's where I learned, but it's harsh. Don't try anything with a God. Not all of them like us, a good few hate us for what we are. Anyway, your new armor is fully detailed."

Naruto's eyes went wide with that. He ran to where he kept his equipment, and saw the new armor waiting. There were runes and symbols etched in across the piece. The armor was made from an extremely rare metal. It was extremely hard, and ordinarily extremely heavy. However, when worked by an extremely skilled smith, it could be merged with several other materials to make it very light. Underneath one plate of such metal was a layer of scale-like plates which absorbed shock from blows, followed by another plate of the metal, completed by padding for the wearer. All of this compacted into one thin form-fitting piece of armor. Molds were taken of every Myrmidon for their armor. A similar construction was used for the smaller pieces used on the shin guards, shoulder guards, and arm guards. Worn underneath this was a black body suit made from a sturdy material meant to reduce the shock of blows. The battle cloak was left open on a hanger, the whole collection displayed. Naruto was in awe over the sheer number. He ran his hands over the masterwork weapons, admiring them.

Kratos looked over his brother, watching him enjoy the gift. "Those are some of the earlier ones, I don't mind remaking those. I like to save the rest for one user. You'll get those eventually though, them and the swords." Kratos said smiling. "I won't be seeing you out there today Naruto. You have a different job to do. Watch the psychopath."

"You got it… thanks for the gear Kratos." Naruto said.

"Anything to keep you alive and well. Mom would kill me if you got scratched. Imagine if you died? I don't want the wrath of any God, much less my mother, coming after me." Kratos said. "Happy hunting. Oh, one more thing." Kratos quickly summoned a scroll and gave it to Naruto. "I think you'll find him helpful." With that, he ran off.

Naruto saw it was a summon scroll. An intricate one. It actually had a case around it, with the mark of a scorpion. Naruto signed it, and tucked it away into a seal.

He began to assemble the armor. As he was sliding into the armor plates, Artemis walked out of her room, dressed in her own battle armor. Naruto knew nothing about it, but he knew that she was coming back alive. Then he noticed she was crying.

"Artemis…what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"I don't think this is going to end well, Naruto. Kratos…if he's worried, so should we all." She said, plainly, before continuing on. A wolf walked behind her, its head dropped, saddened by the burdens of its mistress.

Naruto worried then. Artemis was a goddess, and her opinion was important. But what could they be facing that would concern a goddess? There must be. Kratos was acting like he was on his deathbed, Artemis was crying, what could be going on? As he finished assembling his armor, his mother passed by.

"Are you ready to see a true battle, my son? It will not be like your previous conflicts."

"I'll be alright. I mean, you'll be out there right? I think that tips things safely onto our side."

"I cannot fight for this village. I am already bonded to another. Unless there is a true need for it, not for the victory of a side, but to end the bloodshed, I will not step in. I can offer you only my blessing. Be careful, my son." Athena said. She drew him close and kissed his forehead protector, and whispered a few words in an old language. Then she hugged him. He returned it. As Naruto was leaving, his mother added "Your father will be out there, by the way." That comforted him.

Naruto walked out of the house, checking over each weapon he had. He walked toward the arena, tense, but ready. By the time he got there, the battle would have begun. Out on the street, he saw Zabuza and Haku. Both were wearing Myrmidon armor.

"You guy's waiting on it?" Naruto asked. He knew Konoha was crawling with his brother's soldiers, waiting for a signal to start a slaughter.

"Yeah. And it's boring the shit out of me." Zabuza said. "Stratos had us out here since five, getting everything ready."

"It wasn't so bad." Haku said.

"You were standing around with Jade the whole time while I worked my ass off making traps." Zabuza said.

"Sorry, I did set all of mine though." Haku said. She was referring to a large number of water and ice traps lying around being sustained by her chakra.

"Eh...it doesn't matter." Zabuza said. Naruto simply laughed, waved goodbye, and kept going. He decided to run the rest of the way; he wanted to get to the arena a bit before the battle broke out. Once there, he stood with the Rookie 9 as he watched Sasuke fight Gaara, or rather, stand outside of the psychopath's bubble of sand. Naruto breathed out. The fight was going to start soon.

Kratos stood in a small chamber in front of a battle-map featuring a to-scale model of Konoha. Stratos was going over the battle plan. Ophelos was at the hospital, with the small contingent of medics the Myrmidons had. For as long as possible, they were protecting the hospital, but would remain within the immediate vicinity in case they were needed. Taurus was in his position near the Main Gate, awaiting the order to unleash hell. Him and nearly seventy others of his unit, as well as representatives of others, were hidden in the area around the main gate. No matter where they went, they would find a Myrmidon. And of course, outside in the forest would be Artemis. They wouldn't even know she was there, not until they called for reinforcements and they didn't come. That, and the silver arrows through their necks, would make it clear.

* * *

Myrmidons were also openly patrolling in the arena, without bothering to remain hidden. Hopefully, a display of force would be enough to convince some of them to stand down and surrender. In addition to the patrols, there were over a hundred Myrmidons hidden amongst the crowd, all within inches of individuals suspected of being enemy shinobi. Each was on guard for any trick; Kratos could not divine what their opening attack would be.

At the stadium, Sasuke began to charge a Chidori. Naruto was impressed. Sasuke charged at Gaara's sand dome, but he was unable to break through completely. It was, however, enough to stop Gaara's technique. Naruto immediately felt the effects when the Genjutsu went up. He had no trouble removing them, however. Many people dropped off to sleep, most of the Jounin and all of the hidden Myrmidons had resisted or countered the effect. Naruto sighed, and went for the first Sound shinobi he saw.

That shinobi was dead before Naruto could touch him. Three Myrmidon blades to the neck stole Naruto's kill. Within moments any person who wasn't asleep and was wearing a Sound or Sand headband was at the point of one. However, the number of said individuals was surprisingly small.

Naruto was quick to notice this, as well as the quick surrender of said shinobi. Orochimaru would torture any one of them for doing so, and any sane person would rather die then be one of his Guinea pigs. These shinobi would not surrender that quickly, not unless the Sound had no knowledge of the Myrmidons, which Naruto was certain they did. However, Naruto's attention shot elsewhere, to the Kage balcony.

From what Naruto could make out, the Kazekage was assaulting the Hokage. His father hadn't made himself known yet, he was out killing smaller units for the time being, without any of his specialty moves. His brother would be heading to the Main Gate now. He firmly believed a commander should be the first into battle, and the last to leave, and always took the front lines. Above the Kage balcony, an odd purple barrier went up. Naruto couldn't see who was inside.

On the arena floor, Gaara was twitching. He was hungry for blood, and Sasuke was nearby. Gaara was savagely attacking him, the Uchiha's new speed only barley saving him. Seeing this, Naruto jumped in. Against Gaara's sand, even Naruto had trouble. He was fast enough to get around it, and strong enough to maybe put a crack in the Sand shield. He wouldn't be able to take Gaara down quickly without resorting to extremes, and hurting the civilians scattered around the arena.

"Sasuke! We need to lead him out of here! If he slips any further, he's going to start slaughtering everything in sight, and it's going to take collateral damage to stop him!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke simply nodded. Quickly, the launched a series of short team attacks. They were baiting him. When they had his full attention, the moved quickly away from the stadium. Naruto only had to slow up slightly; Sasuke and Gaara were both fast. As they ran, Naruto tried to explain to Sasuke what would happen if they didn't take him out quick.

"If we let this kid fall asleep, in any way, we die. The kid has a lesser Titan in him."

"What the hell is that?!" Sasuke asked.

"Like the Kyuubi. This kid has the one-tailed tanuki, Shukaku. And apparently, the tanuki can give the boy a very large amount of power. We don't want to deal with it. Keep that psycho awake!" Naruto said. Sasuke didn't respond, as he normally would have. Instead, he just acted. His intellect told him not to let his pride get him killed.

* * *

Sakura was one of the few who had been affected by the Genjutsu. Jade woke her up and explained what had happened. Her immediate question was one Jade had come to expect.

"Where's Sasuke-kun?!"

"He and Naruto ran off trailing that psycho Sand kid, Gaara. They are going to try to take him out, I think with Naruto there, they may have a shot." Jade said.

"What is so great about Naruto? It's just because his brother started teaching him that his strength skyrockets." She asked. "His natural ability is still crap."

"After all you've seen can you really believe that? Naruto fights harder then either of you. He has more potential then any warrior I've ever seen. Him and his brother are both one in a million. He's naturally better then you, me, or anyone else could ever hope to be." Jade answered curtly.

"But why is that he got so great over such a short period of time? He was complete crap before now."

"Well, there are a few reasons. Half-gods don't really have any power to speak of until they push themselves to it. Unfortunately, most aren't insane enough to do it on their own, so a sympathetic, usually related, god helps them out. What that basically means is that without training from someone who knows how hard he can push, Naruto wouldn't be able to realize that he doesn't have limits. There is another reason that I cannot fully explain, but I am aware that it fine tuned his body, essentially. Boosted strength, agility, dexterity, reflexes, stuff like that. It overhauled his senses too. Of course, the last, and most important reason, is that Naruto worked his ass off. Much harder then I worked you." Sakura looked at her teacher with a very evil glare. Jade had worked her to the bone. Weighting her arms and legs, and forcing her to do the same slash for a full day straight (eating while performing the exercises was hard), then making her perform the same pattern or routine for another day straight. When she began learning the more complex maneuvers training often went past early morning.

"That isn't possible, and if it is, Kratos is a sadist." Sakura said.

"He trained me, you know. Him and Seth. I've had you watch the way I move through training courses, to analyze my movements. No one can learn that much without learning from anything less then a sadist taskmaster! Of course, Kratos only goes so hard on humans. Naruto's a half god. Anything we are subjected to is nothing more then altered Spartan or Myrmidon training techniques. We have to step them up a bit, to account for the human race's slight physiological advances, such as chakra, for instance." Jade said.

"One more question, how do you know all this? About half-gods and what not." Sakura asked. "Kratos just throws this information around?"

"Greek legends tell you enough about these things to know enough, but Kratos doesn't hide the information." Jade said. "Anyway, the point of all this is that Naruto is strong enough to take Gaara, and Sasuke can probably help with that speed of his. It's not bad. That fact that he gained it so quickly is what's so impressive. Too bad he's an asshole." She said.

"Hey, don't talk that way about Sasuke-kun! Which way did they go, I'm their teammate, I should be with them!"

"You've gotten very good with your tonfa, Sakura, but you're still too slow, too weak, and you don't have enough techniques. Those two are out of your league. Your smart, but it will take time for you to reach Sasuke's level, and soon, Naruto will be out of anyone's reach. The most you can do for them is keeping the Sound off their backs, not that they won't be busy anyway."

"Just the same, I'll cover for them if it's all I can do." Sakura answered.

"Alright then. I can help, but if an emergency signal goes up, I have to respond." Jade said. She had briefed Sakura on the various signals Myrmidons used. They had a simple but detailed system of signals, all of which were color coded to indicate urgency. Red basically meant "Be at this point ten minutes ago." The signal itself was a simple jutsu. The kind of signal sent up was changed by the application of chakra. Most shinobi mistook it for a jutsu and ignored it in a large battle.

* * *

Standing on the stone likeness of his father, Kratos watched as the beginning of the battle took place. He smiled as he looked over the village. Artemis walked up next to him, and kissed him on the cheek.

"You still won't tell me what's bothering you?" She said.

"It is my burden." He said.

"The burden of my lover is one I would share with him." Artemis responded.

"I'm sorry, Artemis, but I can't." Kratos said. He looked over to the main gate, seeing the force of sound and sand shinobi rushing at it.

"Will you at least tell me after this fight?"

"I hope." Kratos said, then left, blinking back into existence in front of the main gate. He looked back once, seeing the distant silver silhouette of his lover. A single tear leaked from his eye when he turned away from her. Looking toward the oncoming tide of shinobi, he wondered "Which of you will it be…" as he drew his sword.


	14. Chapter 13: Unleashed, Part I

AN: Language Warning for this chapter. M

* * *

Chapter 13

Unleashed

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke continued to bait Gaara through the forest around Konoha, trying to get just far enough away from the village to allow ANBU some time to get in his way if they failed. They were hoping that if they chose the right place to fight, they wouldn't need to worry about that. 

"Are there any streams near here?!" Naruto asked.

"How the hell would I know?!" Sasuke yelled back.

"You were the one who stayed awake in school; they must have taught you _something _about the forest!"

"Yeah. What plants grow here, what I can do with them, and where I can find them! Real useful!" Sasuke shouted back.

"Look, if we don't find a place soon, we're going to just have to stop and fight where we are at the moment! Let's at least pick our ground!" Naruto yelled. He looked behind him to see Gaara, not too far behind, foaming at the mouth and screaming for their blood. Sasuke also looked.

"At least we don't need to worry about keeping his attention!" Sasuke said.

"**Now** is when you get a sense of humor?!" Naruto yelled back. He began to frantically look around. He could run all day if he had to, but Sasuke couldn't. Sasuke tried to say something, but Naruto shut him up, saying that he was trying to listen for water. Sasuke gave him a blank stare, which he ignored. After a few minutes, he started getting desperate as he saw Sasuke start to lag behind. It wasn't just that this was tiring the Uchiha out. 'When that arrogant ass figures out he's falling behind, his pride is going to burn, at which point he'll get frustrated and angry. If he can't fight smart because his of his damn pride, he'll be a liability…' His thoughts were interrupted by a faint rushing sound.

"Finally!" Naruto yelled relieved. "There's a stream, northeast of here!"

* * *

Sakura had seen her teacher kill moving targets, but never real human beings. They caught up to a few Sand shinobi trailing Gaara, Sasuke, and Naruto. Jade ran up behind the first one, timing her steps and breathing to match his perfectly. As soon as she was able, she stabbed him through the neck, grabbed the body as it fell, and laid it down as she ran. By keeping her pace and location perfect, the remaining two didn't notice that their comrade had been replaced. She quickly made a shadow clone and had it use a Henge to appear like the late Sand shinobi. The real Jade repeated the run-stab-clone process on both, dispelling the clones when she finished. She would have just kept running if Sakura hadn't stopped. Jade looked back, watching her student look at the bodies. 

"You've seen death before, haven't you?"

"Not like that." Jade nodded. It was her secret fear, dieing without seeing it coming. There wasn't any honor in a back stab. Not that war ever really was about honor.

Seth had taught here that those were concerned with honor over victory were idiotic fools. If there was any single perfectly reliable tool by which one could use to defeat a stronger enemy, it would be the pride of that enemy. You wait for them to make the inevitable mistake, at which you point you stop worrying about how you look and just stab the bastards in the back.

"You'll get used to it, and I expect you to _do_ something if you're going to drag me out here." Jade said. Sakura looked at her teacher angrily.

"You just ran up and stabbed them, when did I have time to do anything?" Sakura asked.

"You wouldn't have killed them. You weren't even preparing to make a move. You may know the motions, Sakura, but they aren't any good if you can't get your damn brain in the fight. I thought you were smart. Stop just standing-by. If I didn't think you could handle yourself I wouldn't have let you out here. I'm asking you to do a very hard thing, I know. But you need to be able to kill today. You need to shrug it off until after the fight. If you need to breakdown, do it then."

"How are you all so… cold? Is it just your division or is it every Myrmidon that's like this?" Sakura asked.

"First off, in a fight, you need to keep focus, and we are trained to do that. Being warm and friendly is no good if you're dead. Secondly, I know full well what I'm asking you to do. I went through it when I was younger then you are. It was hard then, I imagine it will be hard for you. But necessity dictates what we must do. Now, I'm sorry if this sounds cold or cruel, but you need to toughen up and do your damn job." Jade said. Sakura didn't bother responding.

* * *

Kratos began to count the shinobi coming at him. There were maybe a few hundred in the crowd. All very likely Jounin. 'They might pose some difficulties, considering Orochimaru's training methods and experimentation. I would guess there are a few hundred more scattered about coming in from all sides, and a small team back at the stadium. The Sound shinobi are the bigger threat. I don't have to worry too much about the others, they'll be fairly normal.' He thought. Kratos began to intently watch how far they were from a small scratch in a tree exactly fifty yards from the main gate. When they got there, he just waited a few seconds for a good number of them to get on that stretch, and then he would push a large amount of chakra into a metal wire that was sticking out of the ground where he was standing, barley noticeable. 

When they first of them reached the mark, he counted out ten seconds, and set off what proved to be an extremely devastating trap. The ground below the Sound and Sand shinobi proved to have been a thin layer of what looked to be dirt over a sheet of wire mesh metal. That sheet was covering a series of holes in the ground packed with heavy explosives, any sharp object that wouldn't disintegrate in the blast, all of which was covered with oil for an incendiary.

That first wire had set off the first trap. He could either close the gates here, or wait to see how many got to the second, kill them there, order the gates shut, and kill the stragglers inside. He thought over what would be best strategically. Then he thought, "Screw it. I like explosions." He waited to see how many would get through the blaze.Anyone in the trap was dead, not unless they had a damn good bloodline, or managed to get enough of their buddies under them to shield themselves. As the fire cleared, Kratos saw that the trap was nothing but charred skeletons, ash, and smoke. The trap had caught about a hundred and forty. The others were looking a little unsure of themselves. The roasting broken and shattered skeletons of their former comrades made for a good deterrent. Kratos looked at them. His eyes held a hunger for their blood.

Eventually, the shinobi decided to rush forward, expecting the trap to be spent; that no one would have time to set more then one of those up. Kratos didn't waste any time in activating the door seals. Any shinobi caught in their wake would make for a fresh coat of paint on the door. When the thrust seals came to life, they nearly melted half-way through the inner wall. It would be costly to repair that damage, but it would save a lot of time and protect a lot of lives. With all that done, Kratos turned his attention to the shinobi who were standing around shocked and the events that had just taken place due to their own stupidity.

He didn't even think about activating his bloodline, he just did it. He let the remaining four hundred feel his raw fury. It wasn't even killing intent; it was pure unadulterated hatred for their very existence. From that point, his heart was dead. Each shinobi he met with who wore a Sound or Sand headband would be the same.

Taurus took this as his queue to; as Kratos put it earlier "Make them shit themselves," and signaled his men to come out as well. The Sound and Sand didn't even notice them, they were too focused on Kratos, watching his every move out of fear he would kill them if they showed any sign of being distracted. He would have.

As it was, he simply spoke. "Now that I have your attention…" He began to let his Titanic features show. "You're lucky; I don't normally grant chances at this point. Give up. Now." None of the shinobi did anything. Kratos looked around, angrily. Finally, one finally spoke up.

"Fu…." The Shinobi didn't have time to finish the sentence. Kratos performed the Hiraishin and slit this shinobi's throat before he could finish. After that, war was on. The other shinobi, outraged at the death of their comrade, seemed to get some courage back. Kratos just picked them off like flies. The first few who ran at him he killed with their own weapons.

He faced one shinobi who was particularly skilled with a blade. Kratos was only using his first sword, although that made it no easier to fight him. As they wove through split-second decisions on thrusts, parries, dodges, slashes, feints, or any other trick that would gain the other any ground, Kratos learned very quickly that the Sound shinobi he was fighting was a smart warrior. Kratos kept this dance going for some time. The two fell into a routine, dancing around the fight. As Kratos ducked between the blows, he made sure to kill a few of the shinobi watching the fight, warning them to keep their distance.

After awhile, Kratos was satisfied that this swordsman had forgotten a very important part of being a shinobi. Jutsu. Kratos obliterated him with raw lightning, leaving a partially melted skeleton on the floor. Some would call it dishonorable, to use a jutsu in a sword fight, but all that really mattered was whoever walked away. Kratos left the man's blade untouched. As soon as he finished, he saw another shinobi running at him.

He saw Kratos' throw something, a shuriken. He moved to the right to block it. His head met with a shuriken tied to a string. Kratos hadn't thrown it. He'd swung it. Kratos kicked behind himself into the gut of a sand shinobi. Kratos could feel organs bursting from the force of the kick.

* * *

Naruto ducked under a sand covered arm. It snapped a tree in two like a twig. He had never once truly seen the strength granted by pure insanity, but now, faced with it, he was awed. It took everything he had to keep Gaara at bay. Granted, he hadn't removed all of his limiters yet, but he was finding that they were coming down one by one. 

Gaara's sand shield took a fireball aimed to the head, not that it hurt him. It got his attention onto Sasuke. Naruto was hoping for a quick break. He only needed one jutsu before he could put the beat down on Gaara. He leapt to the other side of the stream and began performing hand seals. Sasuke quickly understood that the seals were for a water jutsu. He was amazed that Naruto knew water jutsu, and although he would never admit it, insanely jealous. He didn't bother trying to copy the technique, he knew he couldn't perform it even if he did. He might be a greedy, selfish, emo bastard, but he wasn't stupid. What Naruto wanted to accomplish with his jutsu, he couldn't figure out.

The water in the stream then began to circle in helix patterns around Naruto's arms, and seemed to be sucking more water as the helix slowly went from clear, to blue, to white. Sasuke activated his Sharingan to find that Naruto's technique was using chakra to do what he thought was impossible, compressing water. Naruto pointed both of this palms at Gaara, and let out a super high pressure blast. He kept it going for a good three minutes.

"Sasuke! Chidori! A strong one! _NOW_!" Naruto yelled before using a fire jutsu to torch the place where Gaara had been standing, his sand shield and sand armor visible as dripping mud. Gaara, too slow to move, and his sand ruined, couldn't protect himself. The fire engulfed him right when Sasuke began charging the attack. When the fire had cleared, the muddy shell had somewhat hardened. Sasuke saw Naruto on the other side of Gaara, and two clones, one to Gaara's left, and one to Gaara's right. All were readying Rasengans. "Now!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke shot forward, looking like a streak of lightning as he hit Gaara's formerly impressive sand shield. He felt the remaining mud of the shield and armor turn to glass from the heat of the strike. He didn't go through though. Then he noticed another clone behind him. He took the hint.

Each Naruto rushed at Gaara, aiming for the weakest point they could see. Four Rasengans ripped into Gaara at once, unleashing a whirlwind from the backlash of the colliding techniques.

"He has to be down after that." Sasuke said. "No one could survive that."

"He survived it. But I will be very impressed if he gets up." Naruto answered, looking at the amount of blood splattered about. "And if he does, he is going to need some very good alcohol to shake that off."

* * *

Kratos had been wrong about the number of shinobi Orochimaru had at his beck and call. There were three full battalions coming toward the main gate. Stratos kept screaming out orders to the intel squads to find out where in hell that many shinobi came from, while simultaneously screaming out over radio to every Myrmidon that they had a minor problem. 

"We're getting the hell over that gate, and killing every last one of those insects. It's that simple Stratos. Just let me know if the snake has any more surprises."

"_Unfortunately he does. Coming from the northeast. Do you like snakes?"_ Kratos released a torrent of Greek curse words in response.

"How many?" He asked when he was done.

_"I lost count."_

"Why does this always happen with the big battles…? Right, I'm going to summon something to take care of this uh…who to use…" Kratos thought. Taurus, who had just bashed in a sound shinobi's head, sweat dropped on hearing this. Kratos pulled out a scroll from his cloak. "Hope you're ready Kyuubi…to take back your old name…" Kratos unrolled the scroll, pinching his finger and swiping it.

"Uh…boss…I don't recognize that one…" Taurus said.

"That's because I haven't been able to use this one for a long time." Kratos said smiling. He performed the summoning. To the general shock of Konoha, they saw the beast known as Kyuubi standing in their village during an attack. And Kratos standing on it's head. "Teumessian."

_"You know my true name do you? I'm impressed…but as you well know, I did end up getting caught…twice…"_ Kyuubi spoke through a mental connection. He wasn't about to admit that he had been defeated twice. _"At least the first one was at the hands of Zeus and that damn dog."_

"You can reminisce about your screw-ups later. Go kill the snakes." Kratos said plainly. "I'll stay here."

_"Brave of you."_

"Shut it, fox." Kratos said, jumping down. "Go kill things now. You have your normal power back, don't go razing the town again."

_"I was possessed, I'm telling you…"_

"And I believe you. What I mean is, don't go doing it accidentally. Giant monsters, fighting near a village…I think we all know the motif. Keep shit away from here."

_"Whatever you want."_ Kyuubi said. With one extremely terrifying a ferocious roar it ran off to go have a meal.

"Anyone else have anything for me to deal with?" Kratos asked, plainly beginning to find this battle annoyingly easy.

_"Yes."_

"What now?"

_"Jade is with Sakura, they've been looking in on Naruto and Sasuke, keeping the enemy off them while they baited Gaara away from here. She was reporting that Gaara was down, but just now she radioed for immediate assistance. The kid somehow shook off whatever took him down, and played dead until he could use a sleep jutsu. Long story short, we have a very big tanuki to deal with. Take a look; you can probably just see him."_

It was hard to miss the giant sand tanuki standing up above the forest. "Yeah…I see it…do we have anyone we can send?"

_"I dispatched teams from the arena, replacing them with ANBU guards the prisoners we haven't processed yet. Unfortunately, those teams are encountering slightly heavier resistance. The Sand has been getting between us and Gaara. Not a problem, but it's slowing them down somewhat."_

"Naruto can handle it until then…"

* * *

Naruto was in pure shock at the kind of powers that we're being unleashed for this battle. Kyuubi's power was intense, even when felt from far off. But Gaara, being so close…it was overwhelming. Sasuke was clearly getting desperate, and Naruto couldn't say he was faring much better. He jumped above the tree canopy, trying to get a better view of his opponent. Gigantic feet aren't exactly the best targets. He eyed Gaara, half sunk into the sand beast, sleeping eerily, slumped over. 

He pulled out a shuriken, endowed with lightning. Gaara was a long way off, and this was a tricky shot. Naruto was aiming for the back of Gaara's neck, just visible due to the way he was slouched forward. He threw. Naruto followed the speeding projectile with his eyes as it flew towards its target, trying to determine if he would hit his mark. It seemed he had thrown well. At the last second, a wall of sand formed in front of Gaara and stopped the shuriken.

"Ah, it was a long shot anyway." Naruto shrugged. "What am I supposed to do against this thing?" He asked, looking up at Shukaku and Gaara. He was getting frustrated. He was strong enough and fast enough to take on Gaara, but now that Shukaku had control, it just wasn't enough. 'Kratos is probably going to send help…I hope so, at least…so I just need to find some way to slow this thing down…what can I do…' Naruto thought. "Fuck it!" He shouted.

Naruto stopped thinking tactics, and started doing what his brother would call a "massive overkill none-may-live barrage." When thinking slows you down, just destroy. Simple enough philosophy and Naruto demonstrated a very full understanding of it. Every weapon he had on him was thrown and multiplied, from ever conceivable angle, hitting any point on Shukaku that looked slightly vulnerable. Naruto was able to get onto the beast's back, and ran up it while digging his blade into the sand skin. He endowed the weapon with fire, leaving a burning red line up Shukaku's back.

The result of Naruto's barrage was an excellent, extremely vibrant display of explosions, lightning blasts, fire balls, and ice. This all seemed to irritate the gigantic Tanuki, who's ear twitched. Its sand skin was charred and burned in places, others it was frozen together, like permafrost. Small chunks were missing here and there, but it was apparent that they were re-growing. Shukaku simply shook himself like a dog drying itself off, sending sand everywhere. It looked angry.

"Well...shit." Naruto said, staring at the best blankly before being covered in a pile of sand.

* * *

Artemis quietly crept up behind yet another unsuspecting group of shinobi. She readied her two silver hunting blades. She continued forward, not making a single sound. One of the shinobi glanced around, but missed her. The goddess knew how to conceal herself amongst the vegetation of the forest. 

'Foolish fools who foolishly tread into _my_ domain…' she thought. One of her wolves, Logo, brushed up against her leg, and looked at her, almost pleadingly. Pleading with her to allow him to bring her a limb to play fetch with. She was all too happy to oblige.

* * *

Seth wove in and out of the enemy shinobi, his thin, wiry body weaving through the enemy, cutting off heads and stabbing poison into the veins of his enemies. His accuracy was perfect, despite the blood dripping into his eyes. He was covered in it, the blood of his enemies. As he cut his way through the force, he laughed. His reveled in the screams of his enemy. Inwardly, he took a moment to note that he really was a serial killer, in essence, he just channeled it towards people who deserved to die. He made another mental note to remind himself to talk to a shrink about that. Of course, the fact that every man present from his devision was acting like he was comforted him. 

Taurus' axes ripped through flesh, muscle, and bone as if it where tissue paper. It wasn't long before he lost himself in the motion of battle, and began fighting like a berserker. An extremely talented one, albeit. He drove into the center of the enemy forces, maiming and slaughtering any who got near. Then he hunted down the cowards who ran. His men acted accordingly, slashing and hacking, fighting with every weapon they had to offer. Eventually, the Sound and Sand forces decided to count their losses and run for their worthless hides.

* * *

Kratos was pacing. He surveyed the blood soaked entrance to Konoha, looking over the hacked, charred, and maimed bodies. The battalions outside the gate had been mostly upper Chunin. Not even Jounin level. Kratos had been expecting special-ops. He reasoned that Artemis had taken many of those out, since she would aim for prime targets, but the strength of the enemy just didn't add up. Orochimaru knew what Myrmidons could do. He was smarter then what he was seeing. 

"What's wrong Kratos?" Taurus asked. "Stratos reports that we took out nearly a third of their forces just there. Artemis is picking off the smaller groups in the forest like they were flies. I mean, if this is the best they can do…or are you worried about your brother?"

"Naruto will be alright. I know he still hasn't quite fully sharpened that dull knife that is his brain, but he's strong enough to somewhat compensate. I'm not worried about him. It's just that…it shouldn't be going this well. We haven't lost one soldier yet. I mean yeah, that's good and all, but c'mon. This is too good to be true." He said.

Taurus was about to respond, but before he could manage to get the words out, the blood began to pool. The now horrified Myrmidons watched as the corpses of the men they killed began to walk into the center of this pool. Storm clouds began to form overhead. Slowly, the blood formed around the pile of bodies, merging with them. The mass of carnage began to form a vaguely humanoid shape, save the fact that it looked to be about fifteen feet high and made of solid muscle. As other details came into shape, it was possible to make out the face.

The eyes were red, with no whites. In them was a fury that could take a man's soul from him, eat it, and spit out the bones. The face held a smile that held many facets of a truly evil creature. Menace, cruelty, intelligence, psychosis, confidence, and blood thirst all showed in the pointed teeth the creature flashed to his victims. And then, the blood-man spoke. Its voice was rough, powerful. One could tell by sound alone that its bearer was a warrior of the cruelest breed, a savage by all rights save his intellect.

"_**A pleasure to see you again, **__**spoudastis."**_ It said. Kratos, who had been watching this horrifyingly paranormal display intently, knew exactly to whom this voice belonged. Although his outer visage showed no sign of it, his mind was a hurricane of emotion. Terror and rage tore through him like an adrenaline rush. His response was seething with the urge to rip into the creature before him.

"You are my master no longer." Kratos said.

"_**And yet you remember my lessons…and use them, to good effect I might add. I love what you did with the gates."**_

"The dagger of my enemy is just as deadly as my own…well, not quite. What is your business here?" Kratos said. His control was very close to breaking. Every nerve in his body screamed at him to rush forward, to hack this creature to bits.

"_**An adage I taught you used against me…how fitting. But you know why I'm here, Kratos. I'm here to collect what's mine."**_

"Their lives don't belong to you, any more then mine does. Leave." Kratos said.

"_**Since when do you value the lives of others? Well, nonetheless, I wasn't talking about your debt. I have a new student. He promised me death in exchange for my power, and my teachings. You helped fulfill part of the obligation, in the realm of death itself."**_

"No…"

"_**You know the rules, Kratos. I have to be brought here by another. And it takes a lot of blood to do that, blood spilled by the enemy's hand. You are his enemy."**_

"If you're being here is my doing, then I will send you back…" Kratos said. "I've changed since then…and I'm stronger." Kratos turned to his army. "Run…" he told them. "You'll only get yourselves killed, and in doing so, donate to this monster your strength. Leave." Not a single one questioned the order. They could not only hear, but feel the quiet rage dripping from every word.

"_**A pity that a legacy such as yours should end like this. Dieing for a pathetic race, a society not even your own. Well, perhaps the younger of you will see more for himself…it would be nice to see another few great massacres like the ones you…"**_

"**ENOUGH!!" **Kratos screamed. He had snapped. **"FOR FOUR YEARS I FOLLOWED EVERY ORDER, LEARNED EVERY LESSON, WORKED THROUGH HOURS OF PAIN AND MISERY FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF BEING A BETTER SLAVE FOR YOU!!!" **His golden hair turned red. His eyes turned black. **"IN YOUR NAME, FOR NO PURPOSE THEN TO AMUSE YOU, I KILLED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS!! COMMITTED ATROCITIES THE LIKE OF WHICH THIS WORLD SHOULD NEVER HAVE WITNESSED!"** The ground around Kratos cracked, and trembled. **"EVEN TODAY I BARE THE SCARS! EVERY NIGHT, I RELIVE EVERY SINGLE ONE! EVERY LIFE I ENDED MEANINGLESSLY!!!!! TODAY I HAVE MY VENGEANCE, DO YOU HEAR ME YOU SADISTIC, TYRANNIC, POWER-HUNGRY, FUCKER?! I DON'T CARE HOW FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE IT IS, YOU ARE FUCKING DEAD!!!" **Kratos yelled, getting lost in fury and in pain. He let all of his fear become washed away in his need to see this monster fall.

"_**That's right…let out all of that rage, just like I taught you." **_The gargantuan man said. His jeering voice served to further break down what little mental control Kratos had left.

"**TODAY YOU BOW TO ME AND DIE, ARES!!!"** With that final declaration of intent, Kratos rushed forward at the God, ready to die for his vengeance.


	15. Chapter 14: Sacrifice

Chapter 14

Sacrifice

* * *

Naruto was running out of options very quickly. He had used every trick he could think of. Nothing had worked. He could only think of one last option. He pulled out the scroll his brother had given him.

"Please let this thing be strong…" he said to himself. He performed the technique. He poured as much chakra into it as he could. In a blast of smoke, he found himself standing above the forest canopy, on what looked to be a tail. Looking downward, he saw that he was standing on a very, very big scorpion.

_"Why have you called me from the stars?" _The scorpion, who Naruto assumed must be the legendary beast Scorpio, asked.

"That thing." Naruto said, floating onto Scorpio's head, as its tail was a rather precarious perch. "The giant sand thing, Shukaku."

_"Wake the boy."_ Scorpio said, clacking its pincers and whipping its tail. _"I will deal with the raccoon. You wake the boy."_ With that, it charged forward. Naruto flew above Shukaku. With its attention on the scorpion, it wouldn't be able to protect Gaara.

Naruto readied a kunai, just as Scorpio met with the Titan. Its tail stabbed clear through the beast, and it seemed to feel pain. The tanuki responded with blast after blast of wind and sand, but Scorpio, being a scorpion, was well protected from the two. Scorpio tore chunks out of the sand armor with its pincers, and repeatedly attacked it with its tail.

Shukaku, however, simply re-grew those sections that Scorpio took away. Shukaku swung its tail in an attempt to crush its opponent, but Scorpio was able catch it in its pincers. Shukaku took advantage of the brief opening this created to bash Scorpio in the side, knocking the giant scorpion over.

As the two fought, Sasuke, who was still on the ground, scrambled for cover. He had long since figured out that this fight had gone well over his head, and there was no real point in him sticking around. He was a hindrance, as much as it killed him to admit it. He was only going to get himself needlessly killed, and he was not going to let that happen.

'I need to gain his strength…Naruto's strength…so I can kill _him_.' Sasuke thought. 'And I'm not dying until that's done.' Deciding his pride wasn't worth the loss of his ambition, he ran for it. Shukaku, however, had noticed that his two opponents had arrived together. Noting the escape attempt, the tanuki diverted its attention from Scorpio to Sasuke, and blasted him with sand. 'Ah fuck me…' Sasuke thought when he found he couldn't move. Then he felt the sand start to constrict. 'Fuck me sideways.' He thought.

Sakura had been watching the fight, and up until that point, had been too awed by the site of Naruto's summoning to notice that her crush was in a rather bad situation on the ground. When she saw him get covered in sand, she ignored Jade's shouts to stay back, she ran to help him. Sasuke was unconscious by the time she got to him. She tried desperately to pull him from the grip of the sand, but she was unable to budge him. 'Naruto…please…save him.' She thought.

Orochimaru was laughing. The elderly Sarutobi was unable to put up even a moderate fight, as they had both fast realized. Orochimaru had finally taken his skill beyond the mortal realm, with Ares' powers backing him, he was a formidable force.

"As long as that link exists, I am invincible. Even Manda bows to me without question. You should surrender to your fate, old man. Even now, he is preparing to lay waste to this entire village. Of course, I will spare you the pain of seeing it happen. I would prefer you be among the first to die."

"You think Ares will give you power? You will be his slave, Orochimaru. Nothing but a puppet."

"No…he has brought me further then you could imagine. But I don't need his teachings to beat you. I still enjoy my own methods. _Edo Tensei no jutsu!_" Orochimaru said. Three coffins appeared. The third simply smiled. He was merely keeping the snake distracted, while the Fourth watched, and waited for the right moment.

Taurus, the Myrmidons, and every shinobi they could find were watching Kratos and Ares from afar. Their fight had just started but had already surpassed any display of force the gathered mortals had ever scene. Kratos was clearly putting more of himself into this fight then his men had ever seen him do so before. His energy was not wasted.

"I thought Kratos was supposed to be some great powerful demi-god or something." One snide jounin said.

"Perhaps you didn't notice, but that thing he's protecting your sorry ass from happens to be a full fledged god. Even a demi-god shouldn't be able to lay a finger on him. But if you would get past looking at him as a hired hand, and respect him for the damn good warrior he is, you would see that Kratos isn't normal by any means. So shut your mouth, and watch the damn fight, and remember, he's fighting for your sake. I'm sure if you want a crack at Ares, he'll be happy to oblige." Taurus said sharply.

Even the Konoha shinobi, many of whom saw the Myrmidons as a threat to their lives, had to admit that Kratos was the most brilliant fighter they had ever seen. As he fought Ares, even from a distance, it was obvious that while he was far below the god in terms of strength, he was smarter. Ares would throw a punch, and instead of standing firm, which would probably result in him suffering several shattered bones, Kratos stepped back and spun, deflecting the attack while keeping Ares from gaining a positional advantage.

The demi-god was doing everything he could to keep Ares on his toes, dodging and ducking left to deliver a few quick blows to the side, rolling to the opposite side to deliver a brutal kick, then jumping above to avoid Ares attacks. Every punch left small craters. Kratos was well aware that while Ares barley felt a single blow, one hit from the god was more then enough to send him flying. Leaping back to gain some ground, he was vaguely aware of Ares laughing.

_**"Really now… quite fun, but you're stronger then this."**_ Ares said.

**"You're right…"** Kratos said, venom dripping from his voice. He formed a seal over his chest, and several seals became apparent on his body. The enraged demi-god closed his eyes for a moment, and erupted in a short burst of red chakra. **"I am!"**Kratos said, rushing forward.

Taurus, looking down on the fight, noted that Kratos had changed his swords. The first two were useless against a god. _Pyrkagia_ and _Pagono _were excellently forged blades, but were the weakest of his creations. _Choma_, the third of Kratos' blades, was forged with the blessing of Gaia herself, and was an immensely powerful weapon, so long as its user was on the ground.

The blade was beautiful, made of black diamond. It's wielder gained power over the Earth itself. Earthquakes, rockslides, destroying or creating mountains…all were within the blade's immense power…if the wielder shared Gaia's blessing, at least. It's edge was sharp enough to cut through even the protection granted by the river Styx. Kratos hoped it would suffice against a god.

Scorpio and Shukaku were at a draw. Shukaku could regenerate whatever Scorpio tore off its body, and Scorpio was immune to Shukaku's attacks due to it's protective hide. All Scorpio could do was occupy the lesser Titan while Naruto made his way toward Gaara.

Naruto was moving as quickly as he could up Shukaku's back. He didn't want to attract attention with a frontal assault. However, with the constant motion of the beast, it wasn't easy to ascend to its head. Still, Naruto pressed on. At the arch of the Tanuki's back, he was forced to use two kunai as climbing tools. Afterward though, he could see Gaara sleeping peacefully, sticking out of Shukaku's head.

"Now…how to wake him…" Naruto said. He didn't want to hurt Gaara, but he knew it would take an amazing amount of force to wake someone who hadn't slept for years. Naruto thought back on his lessons, but he knew of no technique specifically tailored for waking someone up. However, he had been taught the keys to responding to new situations.

'_Consider what your opponent has at his disposal. Consider the possibilities for using his tools as your own. Consider ways of eliminating his tools. If you have the time, test them, find out their limits. Then assess your situation. Hopefully, you will be able to find some hole you can work within. A niche, if you will.' _ Kratos had said. So Naruto sat, and thought. He couldn't come up with anything.

"FUCK IT!" He said angrily, and began a fire jutsu. "**Goukyakyuu no jutsu!**" Naruto yelled, and sent a giant fireball at the sleeping Gaara. However, Shukaku was still protecting him, and a dome of sand formed around Gaara, shielding him. It didn't recede.

"Damn it all to hell!" Naruto said, kicking a small amount of Shukaku's sand skin in frustration. He stared at the dome, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do. Then he noticed the cherry-red glow of the sand where the fire ball had hit.

'I can turn that dome into an oven! Hopefully, I can keep a fire hot enough and going long enough that the rise in temperature will be dramatic enough to force Gaara to wake up!' It was a long shot, but if nothing else, Gaara would go unconscious due to heat stroke, and that would solve the problem as well, as Shukaku couldn't control Gaara if Gaara's mind was completely shut down. Naruto shifted into his Titan form, and let a fireball loose. He put as much chakra as he could into it, and held it.

For what seemed like hours Naruto breathed fire onto the sand dome. When Naruto finally let up, it was steaming, and the sand seemed to have turned to glass in several places. "C'mon…." Naruto said to himself, waiting for the tell-tale scream of alarm. Sure enough, it wasn't long before he got what he wanted.

"HOLY FUCKING HELL HOT!!" Gaara screamed. The sand surrounding him receded, letting out a great deal of heat. Small portions of the sand armor directly attached to Gaara had also been glassed. As the sand dome fell away, so did Shukaku. When Gaara fell to the ground, his sand armor shattered, showing him to be severely burned.

The sand had nearly crushed Sasuke, but at the last minute, it fell away, letting him go free. Sakura immediately performed CPR (although she was enjoying a great deal more then she was supposed to the feeling of her mouth on Sasuke's), and got him breathing again. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, and silently thanked Naruto.

"Naruto… I doubted it…for so long… but you truly do have the strength of Gods…thank you…"

Things were not going well for Kratos. _Choma_ left sizeable slashes on Ares, but the God didn't even notice. If anything, the sight of blood pushed him on further. Kratos was beginning to wear down, even in his lesser Titanic form. He had already pulled out his fourth blade, _Anemos_, a blade of the winds. But tornados, hurricane force winds, and blades of air could only stall the God of War.

"I have no choice…I have to call on my rage…" Kratos said, delving into his old memories of what Ares had forced him to do. The slaughters, the tortures. All done in the name of a teacher who manipulated him. Ares benefited from every soul slain. Every innocent life taken, the more innocent, the more powerful the God became, and the greater the hold over Kratos he had. Kratos had even killed infants in the name of Ares. It wasn't until Artemis…she had saved him. His devotion to her broke Ares' hold, and saved his soul. As Kratos opened himself to his most painful memories, he let the rage take him.

He attacked Ares with a fury unlike any he had ever summoned. His strength had quadrupled. His speed was unheard of, even for him. He began to beat the god mercilessly. A round house kick launched the god up, followed with a spike of Earth driven through his stomach. Kratos created a vortex of wind with his other blade and slashed Ares to pieces. But the God of War simply regenerated, calling on the dead to fuel him. Kratos kept on, attacking relentlessly. He drove Rasengan after Rasengan into the God of War, and still Ares kept coming.

For every bit of fury fueling Kratos onward, Ares could match it. Bloodlust and battle rage consumed him, and he retaliated with an onslaught the like of which had not been seen since he had faced true Titans. He caught a punch from Kratos, and threw the demi-god into a building. He followed up with a simple, brutish beat down.

Blow after blow fell on Kratos, and he couldn't stop them. Ares had him cornered and on the ground. He tried to roll out of the way but couldn't move. As Ares backed away to gloat, his paralysis became more and more apparent. Kratos called out more rage, more hatred, then he knew he ever had. His paralysis only increased further.

"DAMNIT!" He roared with Titanic fury. Ares laughed.

"_**Kratos, Kratos, Kratos… you never do learn do you? How did I take your mind from you when I was your teacher? I drove you to hate. I drove you to rage. And that fed me, more than you can imagine. I thrive on battle rage and bloodlust! None can be stronger then he who holds the most hatred for his enemy…but unfortunately for you, I am PURE HATRED. PURE BLOODLUST! Whatever hate you feel…it only feeds me. Even now, my control over you grows. Soon… you will be mine again… and you will feed me all who you care for."**_

Kratos couldn't speak, couldn't move. He was lost in his hatred… his hatred for Ares, his hatred for himself… for being so foolish. 'Is there no escape from him?!' He thought to himself.

The Myrmidons and the shinobi of Konoha watched the scene play out, with hopelessness in their hearts. Ares was too strong. Kratos was powerful, beyond imagining. The powers he had unleashed were enough to destroy a village, but as Ares had said, they were born from the very things that fueled his opponent. To Ares, Kratos was an almost inexhaustible source of pure power.

"We have to help him!" Taurus yelled in anger. Stratos laid a hand on his shoulder.

"There is nothing we can do." He said sadly.

"Maybe you can't." Said a woman's voice. Artemis was standing behind them, soaked in blood. "But I can." She said, running into the fray.

"_**How sweet. Your whore is coming to see you be enslaved again. This should be entertaining."**_ Ares said. Kratos could only stare at him in hatred, furthering his predicament.

"Kratos! Baby…" Artemis knelt next to him. His body was shot to hell. Broken bones, internal bleeding, the works. He would heal, if he survived, but it would take months. "Don't let him do it to you… please…" Artemis whispered, crying. Kratos couldn't take his black eyes off of Ares. "LISTEN TO ME DAMNIT!" She said, smacking him in desperation. "It's that hatred… it's consuming you again…please…let me bring you back…"

Kratos gave no sign of recognition, but he heard his lover's words. However, his rage had him in its grip. He couldn't simply let it go…

"Remember… all the nights we spent together? Remember every kiss… please Kratos… bring that part of you out… its your only chance. Think about your brother…your mother…about me, your lover… please… come back to me." Artemis said, placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

Kratos' rage could not hold against that. He felt it subside, and be replaced with something else. Love…for Artemis, for his family. He realized in that instant what he had to do to win this battle.

"Thank you… that's twice now you've freed me. I only wish I could pay you back with more then this." Kratos said, kissing her. Kratos, ignoring his injuries, got up.

"_**Kratos you fool! Without you're rage, you have no hope of challenging me**_!" Ares said.

"No. My bloodline… it only reacts to emotion. That doesn't necessarily mean hatred, Ares. I can't beat you with rage… if I fight you with only my hatred of you, as you taught me to do… I will lose. But I can call on something else… I won't fight you for my sake. I'll kill you for theirs… for Artemis, for Naruto… I fight for them!" Kratos said, a golden glow surrounding him. A rush of power flooded through him. He felt his injuries heal, his energy rejuvenate. He turned back to Artemis. "I'm sorry…. But this is goodbye." He said, then rushed back toward Ares.

"_**So… you think this will beat me?! You may have found out a new way to use that wonderful little bloodline of yours… but it won't be enough! You are no God!"**_

"Ares… my bloodline has only provided the ignition for this power…what I wield now is my heritage… my right… and my dream. I AM A GOD!" Kratos roared, unleashing a burst of golden chakra, more immense then anything anyone gathered had ever felt.

_**"YOU WILL DIE WELP!"**_

"Yes… but not before banishing you, forever." Kratos said, revealing his fifth and final blade. "_Lithi_ is its name… I forged it with one purpose. Opening Oblivion…to trap you there, forever."

_**"You don't have the power!"**_ Kratos didn't respond. He flew skyward, and pointed the blade at Ares, down below him. He began to form hand seals at a blinding speed. This amazed every onlooker.

"Kratos has never, EVER needed to use hand seals… whatever he is doing… it must be powerful beyond belief." Stratos said.

"We should all hold onto something." Seth said. No one needed to be told twice.

As Kratos neared the end of his technique, he had one final thought. "I love you guys… Artemis, Naruto… Mom, Dad…. I'll miss you." He said to himself. "DIINOICHTHIN LISMONIA!" He yelled, flying downward, surrounded by golden chakra. He drove the blade straight through Ares' heart. He stood there, in front of the God, his body slowly disintegrating. A void tore open behind Ares, and began sucking with incredible force. Rubble from the wrecked buildings, dead bodies, and anything not tied down or otherwise secured went flying into the gap. Through the tear, several immense figures could be seen, too large to fit through the gap.

Kratos struggled to speak, as the toll of the attack destroyed him. "Ares… I have conquered you. I… claim… your… seat… and… I SENTENCE YOU TO OBLIVION!" He yelled. In one final blaze of golden fury, Kratos kicked Ares into the gateway, watched it shut as the God fell through, cursing Kratos every bit of the way. When the gate shut, the golden energy faded. Kratos fell to the ground, his skin badly burned, black in places. His mouth leaked blood. Despite the pain, he smiled once, before giving over to the death he had accepted.

* * *

Author's Post Notes: I AM BACK! I hope you enjoyed this LONG overdue chapter. More to come on the other stories, and in the next chapter of HOTW, Orochimaru get's his lilly ass kicked. SORRY FOR THE WAIT EVERYONE!

* * *


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